


Silent Days

by alexmercer



Series: And You’re A Part Of Me - JatP Soulmate AU [3]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Arguing, Canon Gay Character, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Everyone Is Alive, F/F, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Transphobia, Kissing, Lesbian Carrie Wilson, Lesbian Flynn (Julie and The Phantoms), M/M, Music, POV Flynn (Julie and the Phantoms), POV Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), POV Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Trans Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29021970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexmercer/pseuds/alexmercer
Summary: One month after the Fall Showcase, things have been going smoothly. Almost.Luke isn't comfortable in his own home.Willie is having doubts.Flynn just wants to be with the girl she cares about.As relationships are twisted and warped until their breaking points, can each of them find their way home?(Continuation of Light A Fire In My Eyes - Soulmate AU: you can only see the world in the colour of your soulmate's eyes until you meet, in which case you can see all colours. After your soulmate dies, you can only see in black and white.)
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Caleb Covington & Willie, Emily Patterson & Luke Patterson & Mitch Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Emily Patterson & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Flynn & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Luke Patterson & Mitch Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: And You’re A Part Of Me - JatP Soulmate AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020430
Comments: 60
Kudos: 109





	1. Luke - New Normal

Part 1 - First Things First

The past two months of Luke Patterson’s life had been interesting to say the least.

It had all started when his soulmate, Julie Molina, had flung his world into colour with a single look. He had immediately been starstruck, in awe of her beauty, her talent, her intelligence, her humour, everything about her. But despite the fact that they were soulmates and he was totally enamoured with her, Julie just hadn’t appeared to feel the same way about Luke – for the entirety of the first month they had known each other, most of their time together had been spent in stony silence. Eventually, Julie had confided in him her reasons for not wanting a soulmate and they had reached an understanding, agreeing to give their relationship a go. From then on, they had been happy together.

Luke and Julie had performed the duet they had been practising together at Los Feliz High School’s Fall Showcase, a song called Perfect Harmony. Playing it sent chills down Luke’s spine, and it was the most incredible feeling he’d ever experienced. The song itself, being able to sing it with Julie, it all felt like a fever dream that he never wanted to wake up from.

That same night, Luke and Julie had headed back to Luke’s childhood home. He’d reunited with his parents after seven months not seeing them. It terrified him as much as it excited him as much as it hurt him. He had summoned up all the courage he had in him to play his mother the song he’d written her – Unsaid Emily – and he had been welcomed back home with open arms.

He had moved back home that weekend; with the help of his parents, Julie, her father and brother, his bandmates Alex and Reggie, and their soulmates Willie and Flynn, Luke had transported all of his belongings from his shabby hotel room to his home. (It definitely hadn’t been a task that required ten people, but he had appreciated the sentiment.) To say goodbye to his neighbour, a sweet old lady who had done most of his cooking for him for the whole seven months he hadn’t lived at home, Luke had attempted to make brownies for her like she had so often done for him. They hadn’t worked perfectly and they had looked a mess, but they tasted good.

Then one week after the Fall Showcase, Sunset Curve had received a call from a manager wanting to represent them. Not just any manager – Trevor Wilson, one of recent history’s most famous musicians (and the father of Alex’s good friend Carrie) who was wanting to branch out and help more young artists reach the level of fame he had. The vast majority of Luke’s time had been taken up by band rehearsals and visits to the recording studio, something he still couldn’t quite comprehend. The band was finally getting a shot at achieving the greatness Luke knew they were capable of.

So much had changed in the two months since Luke had met Julie that he had found it difficult to keep up. Everything had been flipped upside down and inside out and Luke didn’t know what was what anymore. But he loved it – he loved everything about this insane new normal.

Well… almost everything.

Moving back home hadn’t been easy. He hadn’t exactly expected it to be totally smooth, but he hadn’t thought it would be quite this difficult. Everything felt stilted, fragile, awkward. When he woke up in the morning, he’d stay in his room as long as he could to avoid nervous conversations with his parents. He started leaving for school earlier than he needed to and arriving there before the gates had even opened. He took the long route home, he stayed late at the studio, he’d go back to a friend’s house first. The only night Luke was home before dark was Fridays – it had become tradition that Julie would come to the Pattersons’ house for dinner on Fridays, and it was the only time of the week he felt comfortable in his home.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like being home. He loved it – every time he reluctantly entered his house, there would be something (his dad’s shoes by the door, the smell of the incense his mother was burning, a classic record playing from the living room) to ground him and remind him that this was where he belonged. It was just that he felt like he was constantly walking on eggshells; when he had run away seven months ago, he had left on very bad terms, and he didn’t want to mess up again.

It seemed as if his mother and father felt the same way. Since he’d been back, Emily Patterson hadn’t made a single comment about wishing he weren’t in the band. She hadn’t once scolded him for slacking on schoolwork. In fact, she was being incredibly accommodating and allowing Luke to do pretty much anything – seven months ago, Luke would have wished for that exact situation, but now it stirred an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Then there was his dad, Mitch. Mitch had always been the more lenient parent, tending to be neutral towards arguments rather than on one side or another. Now, he was constantly checking in on Luke, complimenting him and building him up. Whenever Luke finally arrived home from school, he was greeted with a, “Good day, kiddo?” and a pat on the back. Mitch would knock on Luke’s bedroom door if Luke had been up there alone for a while and poke his head in, just to check he was okay. If ever Luke said he was going out, he was now offered a lift there and back instead of a simple, “Have fun!” It felt like Mitch was coddling him, simply waiting for him to break, ready to catch him when he fell.

It just wasn’t the way things were supposed to be.

Luke explained all this to Alex and Reggie one morning as they readied their equipment and set up for rehearsal. Since Trevor had started representing them, Sunset Curve’s rehearsals had become far more intense and there was little time for them to talk between songs, so they would only get a chance to chat before Trevor arrived and after he left. A small part of Luke missed the idle rehearsals in their old studio (well, the garage they’d occupied) but a much bigger part of him was elated at the thought of sharing their music and it was a sacrifice he knew he’d have to make.

“It’s not that I don’t want to be at home,” he told the other boys, plugging his electric guitar into the amp, “but everything feels unnatural, like it’s all scripted. We all know what we have to say to avoid saying the wrong things, but it just isn’t right.”

“Have you tried talking to your parents about this?” asked Reggie. “Maybe they’re feeling the same, they just don’t know how to approach it.”

“Yeah, but _I_ don’t know how to approach it either,” Luke countered. “I’m just going to wait for the problem to go away by itself.”

Alex, shuffling his drumkit ever so slightly, said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’ll just make it all worse in the long run. I think you just have to go for it.”

“But how do I even _start_ a conversation like that?” Luke said, struggling to keep his voice level. He didn’t want to start shouting – he didn’t want to show how frustrated he was, and in any case raised voices usually upset Reggie. “Hi mom and dad, remember how we used to argue every day and that ended up being the reason I packed my bags and ran away from home? Yeah, can we go back to doing that?”

“No,” said Alex with a flat look. “Because that isn’t what you want. Is it?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “No,” he mumbled.

“Dude, you’ve just gotta tell them the truth,” said Reggie. “It’s like that time I accidentally broke Flynn’s hair straighteners – if I had waited to tell her I did it or just hoped she wouldn’t find out then she would have yelled at me. Instead, I did tell her I did it.”

“What happened?” Luke asked, both he and Alex casting questioning glances to Reggie.

He looked between them, seeming surprised that he’d been asked the question, then said, “Oh, well, she still yelled at me. Like, a lot. But the point is that I did the mature thing and owned up to it.”

“How is that supposed to help my situation?” said Luke.

Reggie blinked. “Um… I don’t remember.”

Luke was spared having to reply by the door to the studio swinging open and Trevor Wilson walking in, phone lifted to his ear, garishly colourful smoothie in his other hand. He raised his smoothie in a half-hearted hello which the boys returned with smiles.

“Yep,” he said into his phone, “gotcha. Alright. Thanks. Bye.”

Trevor hung up and looked to the boys, a smile on his face.

“Morning, boys,” he said. “Right, not a minute to waste, let’s get cracking. I want to start with Long Weekend…”

Luke let rehearsal take his mind off everything else. He let his guitar whisk him to nicer places, swept away on the flow of the melody. That, really, was why he treasured music so much – it gave him somewhere to go when he felt he had nowhere else to be.

Rehearsal ran on until late, as usual. It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon by the time Trevor declared himself satisfied with their work and allowed them to pack up and leave. He headed out before they did, leaving them to pack away their equipment and instruments.

Luke made his decision.

“I’m going to talk to them,” he said to the room. “I’m going to go straight home from here, no detours, and I’m going to explain that we all just need to, like… chill out a bit. Right?”

Alex and Reggie offered him reassuring smiles.

“Sounds good, buddy,” Alex said.

“Let us know how it goes,” Reggie added.

They went their separate ways, Reggie to meet with his best friend Flynn, Alex to the skatepark to meet up with his boyfriend Willie, and Luke back home to talk to his parents like he should have done a long time ago.

The house was very quiet when Luke arrived home. He toed off his shoes at the door, hung up his coat and dumped his bag before heading inside properly. It felt eerily blank in the house – no noise, no smells, not even anything much to see. It spelled trouble, and Luke’s mind automatically started coming up with the worst scenarios.

He tiptoed into the living room and found his mother there, sipping a cup of coffee, her foot tapping a nervous rhythm against the carpeted floor. It was a nervous tick that Luke knew they shared, moving whenever they were stressed – so it was also another clue that something was wrong.

He’d find out later, he decided. He had come home to have this conversation and he was going to have it no matter what.

“Hey mom,” he said. Emily’s head snapped in his direction and she tried for a smile.

“Hi sweetie,” she said. “Good day?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about though.”

“Oh. There’s something I need to tell you as well. Mind if I go first?”

Luke shrugged, nodded shortly. It was fine as long as he still got to say his piece. Besides, Emily clearly needed to say something; she’d put her coffee down and now her hands were fidgeting restlessly too.

Emily took a deep breath, steeling herself. “I just got off the phone with your Aunt Alicia. She and your Uncle Aaron want to bring the family over for dinner next week. To say hello now that you’re back.”

Luke blinked. He hoped he had misheard her, but judging by the look on her face he hadn’t.

“You said no, right?” he checked, voice catching the slightest bit.

“I tried,” Emily said quietly. “Over and over again, but she kept insisting. Eventually I had to say yes or she would have kept going on and on about it.”

“And you would have just kept saying no,” Luke said, voice and temper rising rapidly. “You should have told her no, she can’t come over until she starts trying to do better!”

“She’s never going to do that, Luke, you know it,” Emily returned, also beginning to sound angry. She had nothing to be angry about, Luke thought.

“So we _never_ let them come over,” he shouted. Emily closed her eyes as if it physically hurt her. Luke knew they were venturing into dangerous territory – this was starting to look like the arguments they’d been having before he had left home. He found he didn’t care; hadn’t he just been saying to the boys how he’d wanted the old days back?

“She wants to see you.”

“No she doesn’t! And I don’t want to see her! Cancel the plans,” he ordered.

“Luke,” Emily said pleadingly.

“Cancel them.”

“Can’t you just try?”

“She doesn’t deserve it,” Luke growled. “None of them deserve it. I’m not going to try and be somebody I’ve never been just so that they can be comfortable and gloat about how they think they’re so much better than me.”

“You know I would never ask you to pretend,” Emily said. Her voice was like stone. “I would never, never ask that of you, Luke.”

Luke scowled, but lowered his voice a touch. “I know. But _she_ would. Their whole family would. And I’m not going to. Mom, please, cancel the plans.” He dropped his voice to a whisper, hating how pathetic he sounded when he said, “Don’t make me do it.”

Emily stayed silent. At that moment, Luke truly didn’t know if she was going to do as he’d asked or not. She closed her eyes, bowed her head, and Luke couldn’t be sure but he thought that just maybe she had started to cry.

He couldn’t be there anymore. His chest was tight, his legs felt as if they weren’t going to hold him up much longer, and there was a burning desperation in him to simply leave.

So he did. He grabbed his coat, pulled his shoes back on, and walked out the door. He heard Emily call something behind him but couldn’t make out what it was.

He walked to Julie’s. It wasn’t a long distance and it cleared his head. Beginning to adopt its winter chill, the fresh air danced across his face and lightened the heavy feeling on his heart. He wasn’t happy, but at least he could think straight now. He regretted leaving without a word – he’d done that before and promised himself he’d never do it again.

He hadn’t even had the conversation he’d gone there to have.

He knocked on Julie’s front door and it was answered by Ray, her father, who said, “Hey Luke. Looking for Julie?”

Instead of answering the question, Luke asked, “Can I stay here tonight?”

Ray, immediately concerned, ushered Luke into the house and sat him down at the kitchen table. Five minutes later, Luke had had a hot chocolate thrust into his hands as well as a plate of far too many cookies. He wasn’t sure whether he was feeling cared for or overwhelmed.

“What’s going on?” Ray asked.

Luke shrugged and took a sip of his hot chocolate but put it down immediately – he didn’t trust himself not to choke on it right then. “I had a fight with my mom. My aunt and uncle wanted to come over for dinner and she said yes.”

“Why’s that a problem?” Ray asked.

Luke couldn’t look at Ray when he replied. “They’re awful. Their favourite thing to do is rave about how my cousins are way better than me and how they’re going to be successful. And every time I do anything good they find a way to undermine it. When I was little they used to babysit me sometimes, but they’d just treat me like a servant. And… and they refuse to call me Luke.”

“And your parents are still letting them be a part of your life?” Ray said. His voice was hard and undeniably angry.

“I asked my mom to cancel the plans. I don’t know if she will.”

Ray nodded. “Okay. Luke, I want to make sure that you know you can always come here, alright? Like today, if there’s ever a situation you need to get out of you come here. Or you call me or Julie, and no matter the time or what I’m doing, I will come and pick you up. You know that, right?”

Luke looked at Ray then. His face was serious but kind. He obviously cared. Luke nodded.

“Good,” said Ray. “I’m going to call your mother – don’t give me that look. I’m going to tell her you’re here and that you’re safe, she’s probably worried sick. And I’m going to talk to her about what you’ve told me. Get her side of the story, see if we can figure this thing out.”

Luke swallowed, then nodded again. “Okay. Thanks, Ray.”

“You knew this was never going to be easy, Luke, but we’re all here to help you. Don’t forget it. Go on then, Julie’s in the studio. Take your hot chocolate and cookies, go see her.”

Luke gave a tight smile, thanked him again, and headed down to the studio. He hoped that his mother would cancel the dinner plans of her own accord, or at the very least that Ray would be able to convince her to. Even if it didn’t work, he appreciated Ray’s help.

But he didn’t plan on going home any time soon.


	2. Willie - One of Those Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time since they started dating, Willie introduces his soulmate to his father.

Part 1 - First Things First

There were few things in Willie’s life that he would say he truly cared about.

One was his skateboard – God only knew where he’d be without his skateboard. He’d had the same one since he was thirteen, and though it had certainly seen better days it was one of the only constants in a life that felt as if it were ever-changing and unsettled. It was covered in stickers and marker pen doodles, the grip was peeling at the edges, and the wheels were scuffed and battered, but Willie would not consider buying a new one no matter what.

Another was the key he wore around his neck. He had no use for it anymore; it had been years since there had been anything for the key to open, and what was a key without its lock? But the fact was he saw the key as a comfort item – useless in its literal sense, yes, but it still unlocked memories that may have otherwise been lost to time. He felt naked without the chain around his neck and the cold metal key tapping against his chest.

The final thing (well, not a thing, per se) was his soulmate. Alex Mercer was quite possibly the best thing that could have ever happened to Willie. The day they had met, Willie had been having one of those days where waking up felt pointless and life felt repetitive and doing much of anything had felt futile; he had those days sometimes. He’d gone skating to clear his head but been so distracted that he hadn’t seen Alex and had skated right into him – and the world had exploded into colour. Sure, his day hadn’t really improved when skittish Alex had turned on his heel and walked away, but every second spent with Alex since then had brightened Willie’s every waking moment.

He didn’t remember the last time he’d had one of those pointless, repetitive, futile days.

One Saturday afternoon, just as it was getting late enough for the sky to darken to a dusky blue, Willie was sat atop the largest ramp at the skatepark. He had been there all day, skating, trying out new tricks, wasting time until he was set to meet up with Alex. Now, he simply watched the sky as its colours deepened to the point that he could see the specks of stars.

“Hey,” called a voice from the bottom of the ramp. Willie, snapped out of his reverie, looked down to see Alex stood there, a bright smile on his face.

Grinning, Willie slid down the ramp and landed lightly at the bottom in front of Alex. He stood up on his tiptoes slightly to press a kiss to Alex’s cheek and delighted in the blush it elicited from him.

“Hey,” he returned then, tucking his board under his arm, helmet swinging from his fingers. He linked his other arm with Alex’s and the two of them began walking, leaving the skatepark. “How was your rehearsal?”

He felt Alex shrug. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Remember how I was telling you about how Luke was struggling with getting back to normal at home? Well, Reggie and I finally convinced him to actually talk to his parents about it. He’s doing it right about now.”

Willie smiled. Alex had been stressing over how to help Luke for weeks now. “That’s good. Well done.”

Alex gave the small smile he wore whenever he was particularly proud of himself, a suppressed quirk of the lips that he ducked his head to hide. The look made Willie’s heart soar, made him smile himself, and he held onto Alex’s arm the barest bit tighter.

“Anyway,” Alex said, “how was your day? What have you been up to?”

“Not a lot,” Willie replied. “I’ve been skating all day. Waiting for you.”

Alex winced. “Sorry,” he said. “Practise ran over.”

“And now I get to listen to you talk about it all evening,” Willie said. “It’s the exact opposite of a problem, hotdog.”

“You won’t find it annoying?” Alex asked, suspicion in his eyes.

Willie adored everything about Alex, but he often found himself wishing that Alex were more confident in himself. It hurt to think about how much happier Alex could have been if he just accepted his own worth. If he realised that Willie would do anything just to hear him laugh or see him smile or just to be in his presence then he could have seen the world in a much brighter light.

So, a sort of subsection of Caring About Alex was making sure Alex knew how loved and appreciated he was.

“I’d be more annoyed if you stayed silent the whole evening and I didn’t get to talk to you,” he said.

Alex gave another sweet smile and ducked his head again, abashed but happy. It was progress, Willie knew, from when he would deny anything nice that Willie said about him.

If they were going home together, the boys would only ever go to Willie’s house. It was simply because it was safer than going to Alex’s – Alex’s parents wanted nothing to do with their son’s sexuality and relationship, so the boys kept it as far away from them as possible (for their own sake, not for Alex’s parents). In fact, Willie had only been to Alex’s house and met his parents once, an evening that had ended in him practically being banned from there. So now, like most days, Willie led Alex up the driveway and into his house.

Willie practically lived alone. He hardly ever saw his adoptive father because his work hours conflicted so dramatically with Willie’s school time, so he was pretty much self-sufficient. He did all his own cooking and cleaning, and he and his adoptive father had a schedule where they’d alternate who did the shopping each week. Willie had stocked up the kitchen just yesterday, so he and Alex made their way there and Willie began getting some supplies ready.

“What are we making?” Alex asked, hoisting himself onto the granite counter and swinging his legs as he watched Willie root around in a cabinet.

Willie found all the ingredients he needed and straightened up, looking to Alex with a grin. “What would you say if I told you it was hotdogs?”

“I would leave.”

Willie chuckled. “Well, lucky for you, we’re making pizza.”

“From scratch?” Alex asked.

“From scratch. Come on, get over here and help me measure things out.”

This was a new pastime that Alex and Willie had adopted in recent weeks. They had found that cooking and baking was something they both enjoyed – sure, they always ended up getting very distracted and messing about rather than actually making an effort so nothing they made actually ended up tasting or looking very good, but they had fun.

That evening was no different. It was barely five minutes before Willie got distracted. While Alex was washing his hands, Willie tipped some flour into his own palm.

“Hey Alex,” he said, coming up behind him. “Look at this.”

Alex hummed and turned around, and the moment he did Willie blew on the mountain of flour, sending it flying into Alex’s face. Alex spluttered for a moment, wafting at the air with his hands, then glared at Willie. Willie couldn’t help but laugh – Alex pouting with his face and hair covered in flour was certainly a sight to behold.

“I’m going to get you back for that,” Alex warned, “when you least expect it.”

Alex stuck true to his promise, but it was really Willie’s fault. When they were preparing the pizza bases, Willie let his guard down and said, “Alex, can you pass me the sauce?”

Alex had replied, “Oh, sure,” and a moment later a splatter of warm tomato sauce hit Willie slap-bang in the middle of his face.

He turned to Alex (who was grinning with self-satisfaction, face still white with flour), wiping sauce from his cheeks, and let out an incredulous huff of laughter. “Oh, it is _on_.”

Willie grabbed the shredded cheese and chucked it at Alex, who seized a whole salami and bonked Willie over the head with it, laughing wildly. Soon the two of them had launched into a full-blown food fight, the pizzas long forgotten and the kitchen becoming increasingly messy. Willie was breathless with laughter and covered in food, and he couldn’t imagine a happier situation.

He grabbed a bottle of ketchup and squeezed it hard in Alex’s direction. But Alex ducked out of the way, and at that same moment the door behind him opened and Willie’s stream of ketchup struck his adoptive father right in the chest.

Willie dropped the bottle. _What was he doing here?_

“Caleb,” Willie exclaimed. Alex’s eyes widened and he stood up abruptly, turning around to face the man stood in the doorway. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight.”

“Clearly,” said Willie’s father. He said it with a smile which might have meant he was joking but also might have meant he was furious. “The kitchen is a mess, William. And who’s this?”

Willie cleared his throat and gestured to Alex like he was showing off a trophy (albeit a trophy covered in pizza toppings). “Oh, uh, this is Alex. He’s my soulmate.”

Alex gave a nervous wave and a tiny smile. “Hi, how’s it going… It’s nice to meet you, Mr… Willie’s dad. Sir.”

Willie’s father gave a genial laugh and held out his hand for Alex to shake. “Please, call me Caleb. William didn’t tell me he’d found his soulmate! How exciting is that, hm?”

Willie wasn’t sure whether this conversation was going well or not, but he was certainly going to try and steer it in a positive direction. “Yeah,” he said, trying for enthusiasm. “Sorry, I didn’t get the chance. But now you know, right?”

Caleb smiled, moving to a cabinet and taking out a napkin to dab at the red stain on his otherwise pristine white shirt. “I do. Now, tell me everything! Where did you meet, how long have you been seeing each other? Come on, I want all the details.”

Willie was about to start talking, but to his surprise Alex beat him there. “Well, about two months ago Willie hit me with his skateboard and then I ran away from him, so it wasn’t exactly romance-novel-worthy.”

Willie blinked in surprise. The interaction went against everything he knew about his boyfriend – Alex was shy, he didn’t like meeting new people, he stumbled over his words and was reluctant to reveal things about himself. But then there he was, positively beaming, gazing at Caleb with a look of awe in his eyes.

It hit Willie then; Alex felt comfortable with Caleb. Willie hadn’t told Alex much about his adoptive father, so Alex’s only experience with him was a positive one where he was immediately accepted for who he was, something so different to how things were with his own parents. He didn’t know everything Willie knew. He was happy right now.

But Willie couldn’t help feeling scared.

Caleb laughed heartily. “Oh, no! No, that’s not true. I think the best romances start with a little mess, don’t you?”

Alex was smiling brightly – the last time Willie had seen him look so happy was the previous week when a random dog had come up to him on the street and allowed him to pet it for fifteen minutes. It had made them late for the start of the movie they were going to watch, but Willie would have preferred that over Alex getting the wrong idea of Caleb Covington.

“Totally,” Alex said. Just then, his phone started vibrating in his back pocket. He took it out, peered at the screen, then said to Willie, “It’s Luke. It’s probably about his parents. I’ll be right back.”

Alex hesitated for just a moment, cast a glance to Caleb (who pretended not to notice), and then planted a quick kiss on Willie’s cheek before heading out of the kitchen to answer the phone.

There was silence for a while. Willie held his breath, watching Caleb as he attempted to scrub the ketchup off his shirt with a frown.

“So,” Caleb said, “that’s your soulmate.”

Willie nodded. “Yeah. That’s Alex.”

Caleb hummed. “He seems nice.”

“He is.”

“If you’re sure.” Willie hated the self-satisfied smirk on Caleb’s face. He hated that it made him doubt himself automatically; he wasn’t even really sure what he was doubting. “Let’s hope it lasts.”

“What do you mean?” Willie asked. He was well-practised at hiding fear when it tried to show itself in his voice, so he didn’t sound nervous. But he knew Caleb could read him like a book. Caleb would know how scared his son was right then.

“I’m just warning you. People aren’t always quite what they seem, William. Are you sure he really loves you?”

Willie set his jaw. He shook his head, at himself, at Caleb, he didn’t know. “Alex is a good person. He… he cares about me.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow. “Care isn’t love. And it’s not always real.”

“He cares about me,” Willie repeated. He hated himself for it, but he was already saying it to try and convince himself more than Caleb. “He does.”

Caleb said nothing. He just let out a mirthless chuckle and left the kitchen. Willie was left alone amongst all the mess, feeling muddled and crushed and hurt and sick, almost unable to make himself move.

He forced his arms and legs into motion. He began scrubbing at the kitchen counter, furiously trying to clean up the mess he and Alex had made. He dumped food into the bin, rinsed the tabletop down, sprayed every inch of the kitchen with disinfectant, but it didn’t seem to get any cleaner.

He didn’t know how long it was before Alex came back into the kitchen. He was conscious of Alex moving around and grabbing his belongings, but he couldn’t make himself look.

“That was Luke,” Alex was saying. “The talk with his parents didn’t go to plan. We’re going to have a movie night over at Julie’s – Luke said he wants all the soulmates there. You ready to go?”

Willie stopped his frantic wiping of the counter. “I… I don’t know. I’ve got to tidy all this up and I… I’m just not feeling too great actually. It’s alright. You go.”

Alex laid a gentle hand on Willie’s shoulder. Willie relaxed at the touch automatically, but then he remembered what Caleb had said, and suddenly he felt tense all over again.

“Hey,” Alex said softly. “What’s up?”

“Really, Alex, I’m okay. Just feeling a little iffy.”

“I could stay here and help you clean up, I’m sure Luke will understand if–”

“No,” Willie interrupted, too quick and too loud. He tried for a smile but knew it looked forced. “Really, Alex. It’s fine. Go take care of Luke. I’ll text you later.”

Alex glanced around the trashed kitchen. “I feel bad…”

Willie rested a hand on Alex’s cheek and kissed him. He didn’t feel like he deserved it. Alex’s hand found Willie’s waist but Willie had already pulled away.

“Trust me, hotdog,” he said, forcing a smile. “It’s alright. Do you want to shower before you go? You’re covered in food.”

Alex looked convinced by the kiss. He smiled, quickly pressed his lips to Willie’s again, and finally said, “It’s fine, I’ll shower at Julie’s. Okay. Promise you’ll text me.”

“I promise.”

Willie led Alex to the door, and after they’d said goodbye, Alex said, “Oh yeah, your dad is great, by the way. I’m kind of annoyed I didn’t meet him until now.”

Willie forced a laugh. “Yeah. He’s something. See you tomorrow.”

Willie watched Alex walk away down the road until he was completely out of sight. He shut the front door heavily, then didn’t pause long enough for his mind to wander; he headed back to the kitchen, finished tidying everything, then went upstairs to shower and get changed. He picked up his skateboard and left the house, ignoring how late it was.

He skated the streets of Hollywood, his favourite place to be. At this time of night, there was hardly anyone about except for partygoers and the steady trickle of people heading in and out of this theatre or that one. He was surrounded by calming, repetitive motions, but couldn’t find peace in it, not like Alex always said he could.

He came to a halt in front of one theatre – the Orpheum. It was where he’d first met Alex, a moment he never wanted to forget. But it was also where he’d met Caleb, something he simply couldn’t forget, no matter how hard he tried.

His phone buzzed. A notification of a text from Alex lit up the screen: _You feeling alright? We’re missing you xx_

Willie didn’t reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my favourite chapters of this whole fic, I'm super proud of it! Thank you for all the love on yesterday's chapter, let me know what you think of this one too!


	3. Flynn - The First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Carrie's first date doesn't go quite as planned.

Part 1 - First Things First

It may not have seemed like it to an outside observer, but it had taken Flynn a long time to accept herself for who she was. It was difficult to see past the loud remarks, bold personality and even bolder clothing choices, but inside Flynn had struggled to get used to herself.

The main thing was her sexuality. There hadn’t been a word for ‘sexuality’ when she was younger, all there had been was the notion that girls liked boys and boys liked girls and that was it, simple. Her entire childhood she had thought that she simply wasn’t ready for a boyfriend yet (which, at the young age she had been, was true) and that she’d start liking boys when she was older.

Flynn hadn’t started liking boys. Not in the romantic way, at least. Some of her closest friends were boys, she just never felt anything more than friendship for them. By the time she was starting to grow up a little, she began to worry. Why didn’t she like boys? Was there something wrong with her? Had she missed something or made a mistake somewhere along the way?

The first time she heard of lesbianism was when she was ten, long before she started questioning why she didn’t like boys and if maybe she liked another gender. She had been at a sleepover at her best friend Julie Molina’s house and the two of them had been talking with Rose, Julie’s mother. It was nearing Christmastime and they were talking about buying presents.

“Oh,” Rose had said, “and I need to get something for my friend Gina and her wife. They had the most beautiful wed–”

Flynn had interrupted to say, “Her _wife_?”

“Yes,” Rose said, nodding. She must have noticed Flynn’s bewildered look because she said, “Why are you confused?”

“Are they both girls?” Flynn had asked.

Rose nodded. “Yes. They are.”

“So how can they be married?”

Julie had laughed at that. “Girls can marry other girls, Flynn. And boys can marry other boys. You can marry anybody you want, pretty much.”

Rose had given a small smile to Flynn, and she remembered thinking even then that it was something more than a smile – it was a reassurance. Rose had guessed even then what would take Flynn years to figure out herself.

“Yes,” Rose had said, “you can marry anybody you want.”

Still, Flynn had waited for that perfect boy to come along, the one who would make her finally fall in love and feel something. And somebody had come along – it just hadn’t been who Flynn was expecting.

Flynn was eleven the first time she met Carrie Wilson. It had been at Julie’s twelfth birthday party; well, it wasn’t really much of a party as all she had wanted was a sleepover with her two best friends. Those just happened to be Flynn and Carrie, who up until that point had heard about but never met each other.

Flynn remembered how excited little Julie had been to introduce the two of them. Flynn had arrived at her house and had been practically dragged upstairs to where Carrie was waiting, perched on the end of Julie’s bed.

She had thought at that moment that Carrie Wilson was beautiful – everything about her was so… perfect. She had dismissed the thought (after all, acknowledging someone’s good looks didn’t equal attraction) and had said hello to Carrie.

Flynn would never forget Carrie’s expression when they locked eyes. Her face lit up, her smile broadening a thousand times, her eyes practically sparkling. But it had fallen when she saw that Flynn’s expression hadn’t changed at all. For the rest of the night, Carrie refused to even look at Flynn.

It was an interaction that had baffled Flynn for years. She would later come to understand that it had been because Carrie’s world had been launched into colour, but because their soulmate connection was one-sided on Carrie’s side Flynn’s world had remained unchanged. It was why Carrie had appeared to hate Flynn all those years; it was out of embarrassment, confusion, and pain.

Even after all that, Flynn had thought Carrie was incredible.

Flynn had only accepted that she wasn’t straight when she met her own soulmate, a sweet, excitable, puppy of a boy named Reggie. They’d had one conversation, her mind had made itself up and decided that they were definitely not romantic soulmates, and a few weeks later she had admitted that maybe, just maybe, she did have a crush on Carrie.

It had been Reggie who had convinced her to actually speak to Carrie instead of trying to get her attention through property damage and name-calling, and it had worked. In the month since the Fall Showcase, Carrie and Flynn had spoken to each other over text every single day. They had admitted their feelings to each other (Carrie had even told Flynn that she was her soulmate) and finally they were going on their first date.

It had taken a while, but Flynn had accepted herself.

“I am so gay.”

Julie looked bemused from where she was laying down on Flynn’s bed, toying with Reggie’s hair as he sat cross-legged in front of her.

“What’s Carrie done now?” Julie asked.

Flynn turned her phone around and shoved the screen into Julie’s face, then Reggie’s. “She sent me a smiley face. How freaking adorable is that?”

Reggie snorted. “You’re in way too deep.”

“It isn’t my fault,” Flynn protested. “It’s hers for being so unbelievably cute.”

“I think that proves my point,” Reggie said, sounding satisfied.

“You need to get dressed,” Julie pointed out, steering the conversation back towards productivity. “It’s nearly eight o’clock, the movie starts in fifteen minutes.”

Flynn groaned and looked at her wardrobe. She had, at last count, over one thousand articles of clothing in there, each something she whole-heartedly loved that suited her bright style.

She shook her head. “I have nothing to wear.”

Julie gave a haggard sigh and hoisted herself up from Flynn’s bed, joining her over by the wardrobe. She reached in and picked out the pink dress with the chequered belt that Flynn had worn to the school dance the year before.

“What about this?” Julie suggested, holding it up against her own body as if modelling it.

Flynn shook her head. “Too pink.”

Julie raised an eyebrow but nonetheless she put the dress back in the wardrobe and instead pulled out a bright orange crushed velvet top and Flynn’s favourite ripped jeans (which Julie had embroidered with flowers for her a few months previously). “This?”

Flynn frowned. “Too shiny.”

Reggie leapt up and headed over to the wardrobe to have a go. He picked out a baby blue dress and a white shirt that would go underneath it. “This could be cute.”

“Hey,” Julie exclaimed, “that’s mine! I was wondering where it had gone.” She snatched the dress out of Reggie’s hands and glared half-playfully at Flynn.

Flynn looked dejectedly at the wardrobe again and rifled through the clothes. “Everything here is too… I don’t know! None of it’s right. It’s all too _much_.”

“Pick randomly then,” Reggie suggested. He picked up Flynn’s dressing gown, pulled the belt out, and tied it over her eyes to blindfold her. “Just reach in, grab something, and whatever it is that’s what you’ll wear.”

Though she was unconvinced by his method, Flynn did as Reggie said and reached into the depths of her wardrobe. She pulled something out and felt Reggie take off the blindfold.

It was the dress she had worn to her older brother’s graduation. It was black, very plain, with a boxy neckline and cap sleeves. It was very simple, very boring, very… not Flynn. But it was what she had picked out and it was better than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle onesie she was currently wearing, so she decided to go with it.

There was only ten minutes left until she had to meet Carrie anyway.

When she was ready to go, the three of them all clambered into Reggie’s car. Reggie and Julie had both insisted on being there to see Flynn off on her date – she had told them she didn’t need them to, but inside she was glad that they were so enthusiastic about being there for her.

Reggie pulled the car up outside the cinema and turned to face Flynn as Julie leaned forward from the backseat to join their conversation.

“You’ve got this, Flynn,” Reggie said encouragingly. “Just be your super cool, awesome, funny, talented DJ self. You’ll be fine.”

“You’re Carrie’s soulmate,” Julie supplied. “I’m not sure there’s much you could do wrong in her eyes.”

“Well,” Reggie said, “soulmates don’t actually work out every time, I mean look at my parents–”

Julie slapped his arm and gave him a _shut up_ look.

“I’ll be fine,” Flynn said to both of them. “I’m not worried, and you don’t need to be either. It’s just Carrie – what’s the worst that can happen?”

Reggie beamed. “Atta girl. Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Flynn smiled, said goodbye to each of them, and got out the car. She immediately felt the winter chill through the thin material of the dress and regretted not bringing a jacket. Head bowed against the wintery wind, she headed inside the cinema and texted Carrie to say that she was there. She got an immediate response saying Carrie was on her way.

It was only as she waited for Carrie by the ticket machine that Flynn’s nerves really started to catch up with her. She couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. She was going on her first date and it was with Carrie Wilson of all people. The girl was literally famous and Flynn was her soulmate – but she wasn’t Flynn’s. Did that mean Flynn wouldn’t be able to live up to her expectations? Was this doomed to failure before it had even started? Was she going to–

“Flynn, hey!”

Flynn was snapped out of her thoughts by the called greeting. She looked up to see Carrie walking towards her looking… _fanciful_ was the word that came to mind. She was wearing a blinding amount of jewellery, her baby pink dress was simple yet expensive-looking in a way that Flynn didn’t even want to think about, she was holding a pink tweed Chanel handbag, and she had pink-framed sunglasses perched atop her head even though they were indoors. Plus the shawl draped over her shoulders that looked as if she had skinned a polar bear. She looked like walking money.

She didn’t look herself, just how Flynn didn’t feel herself in the boring black dress she’d worn. She couldn’t help thinking that neither of them had really shown up for this date.

“Hey Carrie,” Flynn said after far too long a silence. “How are you?”

Carrie smiled and there was something ingenuine about it. “I’m good. Thanks. How are you?”

“Great,” Flynn said with perhaps too much enthusiasm. “Yeah, I’m excited for tonight.”

“Yeah, me too,” Carrie returned.

Awkward silence followed. Flynn hoped it wasn’t going to be like this all night – she had built it up in her head to be so much more than it was at the moment, and she couldn’t stand uncomfortable conversations like this one. She looked around the cinema for something to comment on.

“So shall we get our tickets?”

“You want anything to drink?”

They had spoken over each other at exactly the same time and neither had heard the other’s question.

“What was that?” Flynn asked.

“No, no, you go first,” Carrie returned.

They stared at each other for a beat. Flynn cleared her throat and tried to bring a little bit of control back to the situation.

“Okay, um, let’s go get our tickets then we’ll grab something to drink for the movie or whatever. Yeah?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Carrie said. She sounded oddly flustered. Flynn saw her check the time in her peripheral vision and couldn’t help but feel a little bit deflated.

After a brief back-and-forth about who would pay for the trip, they decided that they’d each just pay their own way. Flynn bought her ticket and a slushie and waited for Carrie a few steps back from the counter. When Carrie joined her, she had a hot chocolate in her hands, the smell of peppermint wafting from it.

They entered their screen and took their seats near the back of the room. It was pretty packed and conversations everywhere drowned out their own – well, they would have if either of them had actually been speaking. Instead they sat beside each other in an uneasy silence, hardly daring even to look at each other.

Flynn wondered where it had gone wrong. They had both been excited about tonight, their conversations over text flowed freely and easily, and she knew that they really did both care about each other. But now it just felt like there was too much pressure. Perhaps they had both gone into this not really knowing what to expect and now they weren’t sure whether it was going how they wanted. Maybe it just wasn’t supposed to work.

The opening title to the movie started rolling and chatter throughout the theatre eased to silence. She didn’t feel quite so nervous about not talking to Carrie now that nobody was talking at all.

The movie was unbelievably dull. It was a retelling of a romcom that had been reimagined a thousand times and was so overdone that it was a wonder that producers hadn’t exhausted the idea yet. It could all be boiled down to ‘white girl is saved by the power of love in a place she didn’t expect to find it’ and it was dreadful. Flynn was desperate to leave, but Carrie looked enthralled for whatever reason, so she couldn’t just tear her away. She stuck the movie out and was the first one out of her seat when the credits started rolling.

Carrie followed her out of the theatre. “Wasn’t that great?” she gushed.

“Yeah,” Flynn said, feigning enthusiasm. “I loved it.”

“I’m a sucker for romcoms,” Carrie said excitedly. “Who was your favourite character?”

Flynn vaguely remembered that there had been a generic white boy whose named maybe began with J. “Justin?” she ventured.

Carrie’s face fell. “Jack. You hated it, didn’t you?”

Flynn frowned apologetically. “It wasn’t my favourite. I’m just not really into romcoms.”

“You should have said something. We could have left or watched something else!”

“You were enjoying yourself,” Flynn countered.

“But tonight was about both of us,” Carrie returned, starting to sound annoyed. “I don’t care if I was enjoying it, we were _both_ supposed to enjoy it.”

“Well, clearly we didn’t.”

They glared at each other. This was the Carrie that Flynn knew – argumentative and loud-mouthed. Not the quiet, awkward, shy girl who had arrived that evening. Flynn didn’t know which version she disliked more. She wanted the version of Carrie she had texted every day, the one who laughed at her jokes and made talking easy. She didn’t want _this_ Carrie.

Flynn checked her phone. There was a message from Reggie: _We’re outside, hope you’re ready to tell us everything ;)_

“My ride’s here,” she said to Carrie. “I’ll see you at school.”

“You’re really going to leave like that?” Carrie called after her, but Flynn was already walking away.

There were tears stinging at her eyes and the blast of cold winter air did nothing to get rid of them. She climbed into the passenger seat of Reggie’s car and slammed the door.

“So, how’d it go?” asked Julie from the backseat, leaning forward. Flynn wiped at her eyes, trying to dispel the tears and Julie faltered. “Flynn?”

“Flynn,” Reggie said gently. “You okay?”

Flynn shook her head. “Just get me out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awkward Flarrie angst for the soul <3


	4. Luke - Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a week, Luke is reunited with his parents.

Part 2 - Mysteries and Mistakes

It had been one week and Luke hadn’t been home.

He wouldn’t say it was really _his fault_ that he hadn’t been home; it was nobody’s _fault_ really. If he thought hard enough, he could create excuses for it in his head. He had needed to stay late at the studio with Trevor and the band, and everyone else’s houses were closer so he could crash there. He had accidentally stayed up too late watching horror movies with Alex and Reggie and had been too scared to walk home alone in the dark. Julie had been having a bad night missing her mother so Luke had stayed up with her, braiding her hair and painting her nails, listening to her talk about Rose.

He hadn’t had the time to go home, he told himself. It just so happened that he didn’t really _want_ to go home either.

Luke knew that he needed to go home. He knew that his parents were missing him; they had been to each of his friends’ houses, asking if he was there, but on Luke’s instruction everyone had given vague answers about his whereabouts (except Ray Molina, who had confirmed that Luke was there but hadn’t forced him to see them). Luke missed them too, of course he missed them. But the feeling was mingled with and overwhelmed by roiling anxiety about whether or not he’d be made to see his aunt and uncle and guilt about walking out again.

And he knew that staying away wasn’t doing anybody any favours, but he just couldn’t help it.

The worst thing was, it was starting to creep into aspects of his life that he usually used as an escape – namely music. One day, Sunset Curve were at the studio and Luke was running through lyrics with Trevor while Alex and Reggie were practising their parts in the next room.

“Louder, Luke,” Trevor instructed. “I’m not getting enough power. I know you can do better than that.”

Luke tried not to sigh and roll his eyes. He nodded and tried again. “Take off, last stop, count d–”

Trevor shook his head and stopped Luke again. He took his sunglasses off (Luke wasn’t even sure why he was wearing them indoors) and laid them on the table, rubbing his forehead tiredly. “I’m not feeling it, Luke. You’re not enjoying yourself.”

“I am,” Luke insisted.

“No, Luke, you’re not,” Trevor said. When Trevor met his eyes, Luke didn’t see his slightly scary boss; he saw a man who was the single father of a teenager and that he was very clearly entering Dad Mode. “Is everything alright?”

Luke shrugged.

“It’s affecting your music, Luke,” Trevor pressed. “That’s not you. I don’t know what’s happened, and I don’t expect you to tell me if you don’t want to. But talk to someone, alright? Have a chat with your parents, or Julie. Julie’s a sweetheart and your soulmate, she’ll listen. And I’m not saying this just so your music improves – I’m saying it so you get the help you need.”

“I don’t need help,” Luke muttered.

“Well, can you try and get some anyway? Help never hurts.” Trevor clapped a hand on Luke’s shoulder and then stood up. “We’ll stop there for today. Go home, Luke.”

“I can carry on,” Luke told him, but Trevor was already leaving the room.

“Maybe you can, but it’s not going to do anyone any good. You need to go home.”

He shut the door behind him and Luke groaned, leaning back in his chair and running a frustrated and tired hand through his hair. Trevor’s words made sense, they really did. He knew in his head that Trevor had just given him the most logical solution and that he needed to follow through with it. But his heart ached at the thought of going back.

He heard the door open again and looked up to see Alex poking his head in.

“Hey,” Alex said, “Reggie and I are going to head out. We’re going to go back to his place and order a pizza. I’m trying to invite Willie too, but he’s not answering his phone… again. You coming?”

Luke thought for a moment. He desperately wanted to say yes.

“No,” he said.

_Good_ , he thought to himself. _Now just say you’re going home. Commit to it, Luke_.

“I’m going to Julie’s,” he finished.

A resigned voice in the back of his mind that sounded distinctly like Alex’s exasperatedly said, _Okay_.

The real Alex in front of him just gave a warm, friendly smile. “Alright. We’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“See you.”

Luke gathered his belongings and headed to Julie’s. He knew it would be easy to simply turn around, walk in the other direction, go to his own house instead. But his feet were walking one way now and they wouldn’t be changed. He shivered, pulled his coat tighter around him, and thought absently that it was going to be a bitterly cold winter.

He arrived at Julie’s house and pushed open the door. Since he’d practically been living there for the past week, Ray had insisted that he didn’t need to knock, he could just come in. Luke pulled his shoes off but kept his coat on – despite the heating being on inside, he still felt frozen.

As he walked into the house he saw someone appear at the top of the staircase and couldn’t help but smile as Julie hurried down to greet him. She was bundled up in multiple jumpers (one that Luke recognised as her favourite, previously belonging to her mother) and she had a bright grin on her face. As soon as she was close enough, Luke pulled her in for a tight hug.

“I missed you today,” he said. Missing Julie was a constant feeling but had two extremes – missing her so much that it was all he could think about, or missing her all day and _feeling_ there was something missing, just not realising that it was Julie. Today it was the latter. He tilted her head up and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Touching her, a little bit of his bad feeling ebbed away.

“I missed you too,” she said when he pulled away. She linked her fingers with his and dragged him upstairs to her bedroom.

As per Ray’s rules, the door stayed open, but they neglected the rule that stated they had to stay at least a metre apart at all times. Luke cuddled himself around Julie, their heads resting against each other, his hands rested lightly on her waist and hers on his shoulders. He finally felt relaxed – that was the magic of soulmates, he supposed. Just being around Julie made his world that little bit brighter.

“What have you been up to today?” he asked her. He genuinely was interested in what she’d been doing, he always was, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t trying to steer the conversation away from his day as much as possible.

“Well,” Julie began, “Flynn wanted a girls’ day. She’s still upset about her date with Carrie and she wanted to take her mind off it, so we spent the day baking, doing makeovers, painting each other’s nails – look!” She waved her nails in his face, painted a happy peach colour and smothered in glitter.

“They’re pretty! But you mentioned baking?” Luke prompted, trying to sound casual. “Is there anything left?”

Julie laughed – Luke could get drunk on that sound – and reached behind her to her bedside cabinet. A moment later she passed back a plate that carried half a red velvet cake, plus two forks. Luke kissed the tip of her nose as a thank you and they both greedily tucked in.

“So,” Julie said after they’d been eating for a few minutes. “How was your session with Trevor and the guys?”

Luke swallowed his mouthful and immediately went back in for more, buying himself enough time to think up an answer that wasn’t ‘I now see Trevor as a father figure and am waging a war inside my own mind about whether or not I should be here, eating cake with you, or at home, making up with my parents’.

Luckily, his mind struck gold as he remembered something that had been said that morning.

“Oh yeah,” he said excitedly. “It was good! Actually, we were all talking about the Showcase and Trevor was saying how he knew we were something special as soon as we started playing. Then he went on to how he saw you and I sing Perfect Harmony, and he suggested we put it on our debut album! How cool is that?”

Julie’s face lit up. “Really? He thinks it’s good enough to put on there?”

Luke scoffed. “ _We_ wrote it, of course it’s good enough. To be honest, I reckon he thinks a love song will get us more hits, but that’s not the point. Our song can go on the album – as long as you want to, obviously.”

Julie’s face had gone strangely blank, but Luke thought that maybe the ghost of a smile was tugging at her lips. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that word,” she said quietly, holding on to his arm.

He raised an eyebrow. “What word?”

“Love,” she returned. There was a dainty blush colouring her cheeks. “It’s a love song. Our love song. Luke… I love–”

To Luke’s fury, Julie was rudely interrupted by a shout from downstairs.

“Luke, Julie,” called Ray. “Can you come down here please?”

Julie sighed and began to get up from the bed. Luke grabbed on to her sleeve and pulled out his best puppy-dog eyes. “No, carry on. Say it, just say it.”

She smiled sadly. “The moment’s gone. You’ll just have to create another one later.”

She swept from the room and Luke frustratedly followed after her. He had been so sure of what she had been about to say. Ray had terrible timing. Was whatever he needed them for really as important as the conversation he and Julie had been having? Luke highly doubted it.

He trailed after Julie into the Molinas’ sitting room and froze in place. He felt Julie take his hand.

Sat on the sofa was Emily and Mitch, Emily looking a little teary-eyed. In the armchair was Ray, fingers tented under his chin, propping his head up. Julie gently pulled Luke and made him sit in the other armchair, perching herself on one of its armrests. He distantly felt her hand on his back – it grounded him, if only a little bit.

Ray was the first to say something. “I think we can all agree it’s been too long since you’ve all seen each other.”

“We miss you, sweetie,” Emily said weakly. “We just want to try and talk this out.”

“I want that too,” Luke heard himself say. Emily and Mitch both gave gentle smiles.

“Son,” Mitch said, “I think we’re all having the same problem. Fitting into this new routine is hard. Right?”

“Right,” Luke returned.

Emily shuffled a little in her seat. “We were considering some different options. We thought… well, maybe family therapy could be something we could try. So that we can learn tactics to deal with our arguments rather than letting this happen.”

“What?!” Luke protested, sitting forward in his chair. “No, we don’t need therapy. We’re not beyond help, we’re not broken, we–”

“If I may,” Julie interjected, placing a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I think family therapy could be good for you all. I went to therapy after my mom died and it was the main thing that helped me get back on track. It started me playing music again. It gets bad press, but it really is helpful.”

Luke noticed Ray beaming with pride at his daughter. His eyes glinted as he mouthed to her, _Good job,_ _mija_.

“Yeah, okay,” Luke said eventually. “Sorry. We can… we’ll try therapy.”

He looked up and met his mother’s eyes. Suddenly, after dreading it for an entire week, all he wanted was to be at home. He wanted to be eating his mother’s wonderful cooking, bouncing song ideas off his dad, hugging them both and telling them how much he loved them.

“Can I… sorry, Julie, Mr Molina, can I please just have a talk with my parents alone?”

“Of course,” Ray said, standing up. “Julie, come and help me make dinner.”

Julie kissed the top of Luke’s head and followed her father out of the room. When they were gone, Luke stood up and hesitantly moved over to the sofa. He settled himself down between his parents and, despite everything, felt his tense muscles loosen. His left hand held his mother’s and his right held his father’s.

He had no idea what to say.

“I cancelled the plans with your aunt,” Emily said after a pause. Luke clutched her hand tighter. “You were right. You’ll always be our first priority. I should never have agreed to it in the first place.”

“We never want to put you in a situation that makes you uncomfortable, Lukey,” Mitch said. Luke couldn’t help but smile; _Lukey_ – he hadn’t been called that since he was ten.

“Thank you,” he croaked, voice thick with emotion. “I’m sorry I left without saying anything… again. I really do love you both.”

“You had every right,” Emily said. “You don’t need to apologise, Luke. We do. We’re sorry.”

“So sorry,” Mitch echoed. “And we love you too.”

There was a short but somehow comfortable silence. Luke was the one to break it.

“I’ll come home tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this house we love Juke, Ray Molina, and the Patterson family.


	5. Willie - Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Julie's help, Willie works through some feelings.

Part 2 - Mysteries and Mistakes

It had been a long time since Willie had had one of those pointless, repetitive, futile days, but now they all seemed to be catching up with him at once. Willie couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt happy.

That was a lie. He could. He could remember it clear as day because the moment it had been ruined was etched into his mind like an inscription on stone, and it was just as permanent. The last time he had felt truly happy had been that day in his kitchen with Alex, mucking around as they attempted to make pizza. He hadn’t felt happy since Caleb had interrupted them.

Well. Maybe he had felt happy. When he’d hung out with Alex since then, he had felt that same elation he always did, the feeling of warmth and love and acceptance he always got with Alex. It was just that now he didn’t feel deserving and it didn’t feel real. And it wasn’t as if he saw Alex much nowadays anyway.

That, Willie knew, was his own fault. Over the past few weeks, Alex had made an effort – he had been texting Willie, calling him, even showing up unannounced at his house to see him; when he did that, Willie had no choice but to hang out with him, and eventually he would begin to feel relaxed and less down. But if Alex tried to text or call then Willie found it too easy to simply ignore him.

In his heart he knew that Alex didn’t deserve to be treated like this – in his head he thought that he simply didn’t deserve Alex.

It was Caleb’s doing. Ever since he’d told Willie all those things, planted those seeds of doubt in his mind it was all he could think about. Alex not really caring for him, Alex only putting up with him because they were soulmates, Alex getting ready to leave Willie behind without a moment’s notice. The worst part was that he knew it was nonsense. He knew from the way Alex had been acting, worried about Willie’s sudden change in behaviour, that he cared and he just wanted him to be happy. But it didn’t stop the doubts from morphing into monstrous anxieties that stopped Willie from being able to even look at Alex without feeling guilt gnawing at his insides.

Then again, the guilt was unavoidable. He felt guilty when he was with Alex, but he felt guilty when he wasn’t. He felt guilty when he kissed Alex, but he felt guilty when he turned his face away. He felt guilty when he picked up the phone, but he felt guilty when he declined the call.

He wished that Alex and Caleb had never met.

Willie was having yet another pointless, repetitive, futile day one weekend when Alex showed up at his house. Willie opened the door and saw his soulmate stood there, hands shoved deep in his pockets, looking extremely uncomfortable. His natural instinct was to do whatever he could to make Alex relax, but his mind told him to step back, to do nothing.

“Hey,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you,” Alex replied with a shrug. Either he was avoiding eye contact or the doorknob was somehow remarkably interesting. “I haven’t seen you all week. Not even at school.”

Willie felt that old monster that was guilt begin to wake up inside him. He had been avoiding Alex like the plague, not that he could stop himself. When they’d first started seeing each other, Willie had taken rather indirect routes to class just so that he’d ‘accidentally bump into’ Alex on the way there; recently his routes had been equally indirect, just fashioned so that he’d have no chance of seeing Alex at all.

“Yeah,” he said, leaning against the doorframe. “Sorry, I’ve been swamped with work, I’ve got loads of exams coming up.”

“Yeah, no, I get it,” Alex returned nodding. “It’s… it’s fine.”

Willie swallowed. “Do you, uh… do you want to come in?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, and walked past Willie into the house. Willie took a deep breath and shut the door behind him, then followed him into the living room.

“Want a drink?” Willie offered as Alex perched himself on the sofa. Alex shrugged and nodded at the same time, which Willie took as a yes and an excuse to get out of there to the safety of the kitchen.

In the kitchen, alone, he made himself breathe. He forced himself to take in air and then let it out, even though it almost hurt. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up. Pushing Alex away felt wrong, but letting Alex care about him felt dirty and cruel. He just wanted it all to stop. He knew soulmates weren’t always the easiest business, but he didn’t want it to be this hard.

He stilled himself, finished his breathing exercises (which was something Alex had taught him, though he was trying not to think about that) and poured both himself and Alex a glass of water each. After taking a final moment of preparation, he headed back into the living room.

Alex took his water and thanked him, but put it down on the coffee table without even taking a sip. Willie put his glass down too, also undrunk, and made himself sit beside Alex. When Alex gently took his hand, Willie felt his heart race and his stomach plummet in a way he couldn’t tell whether it was good or bad.

Alex squeezed his hand. “I’m worried about you, Willie.”

Willie laced his fingers with Alex and huffed a laugh. “What? Why?”

“You know why,” Alex said solemnly. Willie felt his face fall, betraying him. He couldn’t have faked that smile any longer. “You’re avoiding me and our friends. You haven’t answered your phone in weeks. You only hang out with me if I just turn up at your house. Willie, please tell me what’s going on – I just want to help.”

“There’s nothing going on,” Willie insisted. He squeezed Alex’s hand. “I swear. I’m fine, Alex. Everything’s fine.”

Alex’s grip on his hand loosened. “You’re lying to me. Is it something I’ve done?”

“Nothing you do could ever upset me.”

“So what is it?” Alex’s hand fell out of Willie’s completely. He began fiddling with a loose thread on his trousers instead. “Why can’t you tell me?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” he replied, ducking his head.

Alex stood up, hands in his pockets. “I thought… Willie, I have been so worried about you. We’re soulmates, we’re supposed to share everything but you won’t even look at me! I don’t know what I can do to help you, and telling me there’s nothing wrong isn’t making this any better. Just… I don’t know. Clearly I shouldn’t have come here. I’ll be waiting for you. Talk to me when you realise you can, Willie. I’ll see you whenever.”

“Alex, please,” Willie began, but Alex was already leaving. Willie hurried after him, but nothing he said could make him turn around. He watched Alex shut the door and stared at it until Alex was long gone.

He slumped against the wall, slid down to the ground, and didn’t bother trying to stop the sob that escaped him.

He didn’t hear from Alex again. After that day, the texts and the phone calls and the showing up unannounced all stopped. It had been three days and Willie hadn’t had any word from Alex. He was starting to worry and felt wracked with even more guilt – this must have been how Alex felt when Willie was avoiding him.

School was utterly dull. Despite his outward appearances, Willie rather enjoyed school on any normal day, but the past few days and weeks had been anything but normal and even history – his favourite lesson – couldn’t cheer him up. He missed catching up with Alex in the hallways between lessons and all their friends during breaktimes, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now. It seemed that Alex wanted nothing to do with him, and neither did his friends.

On the third day of Alex’s silence, Willie was feeling the worst he’d felt in a long time. It was one of those days where every little thing built up, digging a well of bottled emotions that could spill at any moment and make Willie explode. He had thought that the fact that his water bottle had leaked in his bag and soaked absolutely everything might have been the final straw, but it seemed that the universe had one more trick up its sleeve after that.

He was by his locker, furiously trying to dry his textbooks, when somebody tapped on his shoulder. He turned to see Luke, Reggie, and Julie stood behind him – Luke and Reggie had their arms crossed, both looking murderous, while Julie had an expression on her face that Willie couldn’t quite identify.

He knew exactly what this was about.

“Hey guys,” he said anyway, acting as if he didn’t know exactly what was coming. “What’s up?”

“I think you know,” said Luke. Willie sighed.

“But just in case you _don’t_ know,” Reggie said, “it’s about Alex. Dude – what the hell are you doing to him?”

Willie forced himself to look up – he found that Julie was the easiest to make eye contact with. “What’s he told you?”

“Pretty much nothing,” Julie said, speaking over the boys before they could start shouting. “Just that you won’t talk to him and that you’ve been off for weeks.”

Willie had nothing to say to that.

“So?” prompted Luke, eyes wide expectantly. “What’s going on? Why are you acting like such a jerk to him?”

“I can’t tell you,” Willie said quietly.

“Why not?” Reggie asked.

“I can’t tell you that either.”

Reggie and Luke scoffed, exchanging exasperated and disbelieving looks with each other. Reggie shook his head, while Luke looked Willie up and down appraisingly before seeming downright disgusted.

“I really thought you were a good guy,” he said. Willie felt the words like a knife in his chest. “But dude, if you’re doing something like this to Alex then you must be… I don’t even know. Alex is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, it’s totally twisted that you’re doing this to him.”

“I’m sorry, I ca–”

“Don’t apologise to us,” Reggie interrupted. “Figure out what you’re doing and then apologise to Alex. He’s the one who needs to hear it. And an explanation would be good, too.”

“He doesn’t deserve this,” Luke spat. Willie heard the implication – that he didn’t deserve Alex. He had known that already.

Luke slung an arm around Reggie’s shoulders and led him away. Willie knocked his head against his locker, grounded by the cold metal. He was angry – at Luke, at Reggie, at himself, he couldn’t tell.

“I’m sorry they were so hard on you,” said Julie. Willie turned to look at her; he had forgotten she was even there. Her expression was still unidentifiable. “They care about Alex like he’s their brother. They’d do anything for him. But they do like you, Luke especially didn’t mean what he said. They’re just protective.”

“I get it,” Willie said. But he didn’t. He’d never really had many friends, none he’d considered brothers. He had sort of hoped that Luke and Reggie might become that to him – but now it seemed he’d thrown all that down the drain.

Julie sighed. “Look. I’ve been there. Not wanting to be with your soulmate. If that’s what this is–”

“It’s not!”

“If it is,” she said slowly. “The kinder thing is to tell Alex that. If you don’t want to be with him it’s not my business why, but you need to explain it to him. It’ll save him a lot of pain. If you don’t believe me, ask Luke.”

Willie shook his head. “I do want to be with him, Julie, you’ve got to believe me. I care about him so much it hurts.”

“Then you don’t want to hurt _him_ ,” Julie said evenly. “Whatever it is, Alex deserves an explanation. I know it’s hard, you wouldn’t be doing this if it was easy. But please, just talk to Alex.”

Julie took Willie’s hand – he only realised then that he’d been rubbing restless circles near his elbow, probably since their conversation started. Her small fingers squeezed his tightly.

“If you need to talk, I’m here,” she said. “We’re friends, Willie. If you need anything, I am here for you.”

“Thanks, Julie,” Willie said quietly. He sniffled and wiped at his eyes – when had they begun to water? The school bell rang sharply somewhere above them. “I’m here for you too. Well, I will be after I’ve sorted this all out with Alex.”

She smiled. “He’s got to be your priority.”

“He is.”

Later that evening, Willie went to Alex’s house and knocked on the door. It was answered by his father, who looked down his nose at Willie and sneered, “He doesn’t want to see you,” before Willie had even had a chance to ask for Alex. The smug expression Mr Mercer wore burned Willie’s eyes as he slammed the door in Willie’s face.

Out of other options, Willie took out his phone and opened up the hundred or so unread messages from Alex. He skimmed through them, not wanting to read them and upset himself, and then began writing his own. He wrote it over and over again but couldn’t seem to form the right words. He settled for simplicity.

_Can we talk?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted fluffy Willex on Tumblr today, now I've got to balance it out with the angst.


	6. Flynn - Try Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Carrie reach an agreement.

Part 2 - Mysteries and Mistakes

“You’re wallowing in self-pity.”

“I’m not wallowing.”

A pillow hit Flynn’s face hard even though she was buried beneath mounds of blankets, and she was most definitely wallowing.

“You _are_ wallowing,” Reggie said matter-of-factly. He smacked her with the pillow again. “You’re wallowing like a big wallowing wallower.”

Flynn sat up, throwing her hair over her shoulder and pulling her bedcovers up around her. She and Reggie were sat in her bedroom – Reggie had arrived hours ago, but Flynn had refused to get out of bed even though it was nearing midday. He had only recently resorted to pillow-based violence, but it hadn’t taken long to get on Flynn’s nerves. She pouted at him, grumpy, and picked up her own pillow to lob at him. He dodged it with ease, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not a wallower,” she said petulantly.

Reggie leaned back on the back legs of her desk chair. “Then why are you wallowing? Come on, Flynn, I can’t be dealing with this – first I’ve had Alex wallowing in sadness about Willie, now I’ve got you wallowing in sadness about Carrie, I’m starting to think I’m the only one who is incapable of wallowing–”

“ _Stop saying wallowing!_ ”

Reggie held an apologetic hand in her direction, and she snuggled back down into her bedsheets with an exasperated sigh. Maybe Reggie was right, maybe she was wallowing in self-pity and sadness. And maybe it had been weeks and she hadn’t done anything about it and at the very least she should have moved on by now. But so what? It wasn’t easy to just move on from someone like Carrie Wilson.

“I’m only wallowing a little bit,” she admitted quietly. She felt the bed depress where Reggie sat beside her. “And I’m nearly done.”

“Flynn, it’s been weeks,” he said gently. “I know you had that girls’ day with Julie, and you and I have done a bunch of stuff together, but you’re still not yourself.”

“How can I be?” she complained, rolling over onto her back, staring at Reggie. “How can I be myself when I’ve ruined all my chances with the most wonderful girl in the world except for Julie?”

Since their failed date, Flynn hadn’t spoken to Carrie at all. It wasn’t for lack of trying or because she didn’t want to – it was simply because she couldn’t. Whenever she picked up her phone to text Carrie, she would just end up looking through all their messages where their conversation flowed like a river, then she would remember the argument they’d had at the cinema and put her phone down again. When she saw Carrie in the halls, she thought about waving, but then she would catch Carrie’s eye and it would be so painfully awkward that she simply couldn’t do anything but look away.

Flynn desperately wanted to talk to Carrie again, but she just couldn’t.

“Do you want my advice?” Reggie asked.

Flynn nodded – soulmate advice was almost always golden. Sure, she knew exactly what Reggie was about to say because he had offered his thoughts on the situation almost fifty times since the date and Flynn still hadn’t done as he had suggested, but it helped to feel like she was making some sort of progress.

“Option one,” Reggie said as if giving a presentation. “You forget all about her. You forget you ever even tried to make things work, and you move on. You find another girl to share your life with and you live in regret, wondering what could have happened if you had stayed with Carrie.”

That, Flynn thought, was possibly the worst idea anyone had ever had.

“Or,” Reggie continued, “the much better option two. You try again. You stop wallowing, you swallow your pride, you go up to Carrie and tell her how much you care about her, and you give your relationship a second chance.”

“It’ll never work,” Flynn groaned. Because how could it? They had ruined everything.

Reggie pulled back her duvet a little, exposing her face, and smiled down at her. “These things work out. Look at Luke and Julie – they made it work.”

Flynn shook her head. “Look at Alex and Willie.”

Reggie deflated a little, but shook his head. “I’m sure it’s just a rough patch. Anyhow, my point is that you’re miserable without Carrie. Those weeks you were texting each other non-stop were the happiest I’ve ever seen you. And this, away from her? This is the saddest. She makes you happy, and you make her happy too, so just bite the bullet and give it another go!”

“How?” Flynn protested. She sat up so abruptly that her and Reggie’s foreheads collided. “How am I supposed to do that when I can hardly look her in the eye?”

Rubbing his sore forehead, Reggie shrugged. “I can’t help with that. It’s up to you to do the actual making up. But if it were me, I’d just go for it, start before you have any time to overthink it.”

Flynn thought it over and realised, finally, that maybe Reggie was right. She wanted to be with Carrie; if people could have multiple soulmates, or if her soulmate hadn’t been Reggie, she was more than certain that she and Carrie would have been bound for eternity. After all, she was Carrie’s soulmate, and she felt around Carrie the way Julie described being around Luke. She could have it, that bond with Carrie that she so desperately craved, if she simply let herself. If she stopped caring about what could go wrong and focused on simply trying again.

So she did.

The next Monday, Flynn waited around after her last class of the day (French), somewhat lurking in the back of the classroom. French was the one lesson that she and Carrie shared, and earlier on Carrie had asked the teacher if she could stay behind and ask him something at the end. Flynn had decided that was her chance – after the teacher left, it would be just her and Carrie.

She pretended she was taking her time to put her books back in her bag, carefully eyeing Carrie and the French teacher. Carrie’s question had been boring, just asking for help for translating something on their recent homework assignment. Flynn was great at languages and French was her best subject in school; she couldn’t help thinking that if things had been just slightly different then she could have helped Carrie with her homework in the first place.

“Flynn,” the teacher said abruptly, snapping her out of her thoughts. Carrie turned to look at her too, expression carefully neutral. “Did you need to ask me something too?”

Carrie began to head towards the door, so Flynn jumped in with, “No, I was waiting for Carrie, actually. I need to talk to her.”

The teacher nodded and headed out of the room, leaving Flynn and Carrie alone. Carrie sighed heavily and put her bag down on the floor, pulling out a chair and sitting down. Flynn went and sat beside her, a careful distance apart.

She couldn’t help noticing that Carrie looked herself today, nothing like she had on their date so long ago. Then she had been gaudy and fanciful, dripping money because she could, nothing like the girl Flynn knew – Carrie was rich, richer than rich, but she never once boasted about it. Dressing like that had been out of character, a sign that she – like Flynn – hadn’t had any idea what she was doing.

Now she was wearing her usual clothes, full pink like normal, but not the famous designers she had been wearing at the cinema. In fact, Flynn was pretty sure she owned the exact same top that Carrie was wearing. This was the Carrie she had fallen for – the Carrie who was simply herself and sure of it.

“What is it?” Carrie asked snappishly. “I can’t wait around. I have rehearsal with Dirty Candi and I’ve already missed ten minutes.”

“This won’t take long,” Flynn assured her. She made the bold decision to scoot her chair an inch or so closer. Carrie didn’t move away, which was a good sign. Flynn took a deep breath and said, “I was wondering if we could try again.”

“Try again?” Carrie repeated, snarky. “What does that mean?”

“It means that just because our first attempt at dating didn’t work it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give it another go. I just think the whole thing was too generic; none of it was _us_. It was how people expect romance to work, like in that awful movie we watched, it wasn’t Carrie-and-Flynn romance.”

Carrie looked uneasy. She was avoiding eye contact, staring at the floor, and her arms were crossed tightly over her chest. Flynn was suddenly worried that she had made a horrible mistake in asking and she was desperate to leave, but she couldn’t back out now. She thought about what Reggie had told her and realised how right he was – she needed to get it over with before she had any second thoughts.

“I don’t want to try again,” Carrie said quietly.

Flynn felt her heart fall. Tears welled up in her eyes but she pushed them down. She wanted to run.

No seconds thoughts.

“Why not?” she asked, willing her voice not to break.

Carrie finally looked up at her. There were tears brimming in her eyes and she looked as if she would have rather been anywhere else.

“Because the universe made a mistake, Flynn,” she said flatly. “We’re not meant to be together. Clearly we don’t work. We’re not even meant to be soulmates. If we were, you would have seen colour for the first time back when we were eleven like I did, not when you met Reggie just months ago. You shouldn’t be my soulmate and that’s a burden I’m going to have to carry forever. There’s no point in trying again – we can’t fix something that’s this broken.”

Heart in her mouth, Flynn said with all the courage and certainty and care she could summon, “We are not broken. _You_ are not broken. There was no mistake made when the universe tied us together. Carrie, I am telling you in no uncertain terms that I care about you as if you had been my soulmate and that I want to be with you. I want to try.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” Carrie questioned, irritated. “If your plan fails and the universe screws us over again? What then? Face it, Flynn, we weren’t made for each other. I wasn’t made for anyone.”

“You were made for _me_ ,” Flynn said, trying not to let her frustration show. “You were. I feel it too, Carrie, and it isn’t how recently I started seeing colours that decides that. It won’t fail, I promise you it won’t. Because I’ve got a plan this time that has to work.”

Carrie looked unconvinced. “You say that now.”

“I’ll say that always. We’re not doing this the way the universe tells us to, because to be perfectly honest it is sending us very mixed signals and I’ve decided to ignore it now. We’re not doing it the universe’s way, we’re not doing it the romance movie way, we’re doing it the Carrie-and-Flynn way.”

If Flynn wasn’t mistaken then she thought she saw the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corners of Carrie’s mouth.

“What’s the Carrie-and-Flynn way?” she asked quietly.

Flynn sat up a little straighter, clapped her hands together. “I am so glad you asked. It’s this – you pick the date. Anything you want, any time, any place, any activity. There’s only one rule; it has to be something you enjoy that you want to share with me. You’re not allowed to pick anything because you think I’ll like it, or anything that seems like the ‘normal’ thing to pick. Something you like that you want to do with me.”

Carrie’s eyes were sparkling. The smile was plain as day on her face now as she beamed like the sun. With the tiniest giggle that was still enough to make Flynn’s heart soar, she nodded and stood up, picking up her bag.

“Okay,” she said brightly, but still managing to sound subdued and soft. “We’ll do it your way.”

“Uh, uh, uh,” Flynn interrupted, holding up her hands. “ _Our_ way.”

Carrie rolled her eyes, but the effect was lost because she was smiling. “Fine. We’ll do it _our_ way. I already have an idea in mind anyway.”

“Ooh, what is it?” Flynn asked, curious and surprised that the idea had worked so quickly.

“You’ll have to wait and find out,” Carrie said slyly. Then she shouldered her bag and held out her hand. “Until then, do you want to come to my Dirty Candi rehearsal? Kayla and I spent all day yesterday making a new routine for All Eyes On Me and we’ve got to teach the other girls. I’d love you to see it.”

Flynn slipped her hand into Carrie’s and felt her heart flutter when it fit perfectly. “I’m supposed to go and write country songs with Reggie and Julie, but this sounds way better.”

“Won’t they be annoyed if you don’t show up?” Carrie asked, nevertheless leading Flynn out of the French classroom and down to the dance studios.

“Not if I tell them it’s because I’m with you,” Flynn replied, giving Carrie’s hand a gentle squeeze. She delighted in the way Carrie’s face flushed sheepishly, ecstatic to see that was the effect she had on her.

When they arrived down at the studio, Flynn said hi to the rest of the band while Carrie quickly got changed. The other members of the band were nice, as protective over Carrie as any best friend was. It was clear to see how close they all were – Flynn was glad that if Carrie hadn’t had her soulmate all these years then at least she’d had some excellent friends.

Flynn quickly texted Reggie to let him know where she was as Carrie came back and the girls started warming up, and his response was to try and FaceTime her. When she declined it, Julie requested to FaceTime, which probably meant Reggie had taken her phone.

A moment later, Flynn got a text from Julie saying: _Ignore Reggie, focus on Carrie. We’ll be fine without you. Have fun!!_

Yes, Flynn decided as the band started dancing. Having fun would be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone catch the Miranda reference or was that minor self-indulgence wasted? I'm really tired and didn't proof-read this today, but enjoy! (I'm so excited to post Flynn's next chapter, I can't wait.)


	7. Luke - My Name Is Luke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and the band finally start recording their album.

Part 3 - I Never Let You Go

One family therapy session down, who knew how many more to go. Luke definitely thought they had made the right decision in going to therapy – it may have only been one session, and that one session had mainly consisted of the therapist getting to know them and their situation, but she seemed like a very intelligent, professional woman and Luke already felt confident in her and what she could do for his family.

He had spoken to Julie before he went that day. He had asked her how to dress, what to expect, specific questions to prepare for, gone over every little detail so many times that it hurt. He didn’t get nervous often, but this was important to him. Julie, thankfully, seemed to understand that and she was patient with him, helping him out as best she could, answering any questions he had.

He had relaxed significantly after the session was done, now that he knew what to expect from future sessions. Now he was sat in the back seat of the car, on the way back from the session. It was quiet, but not uncomfortable. For the first time in weeks, it felt right.

He wasn’t going home. His parents were driving him straight from therapy to Trevor’s recording studio. Today was the day they were recording their first bits that would actually go on the tracks and they would get to see all their hard work and rehearsals start to pay off. Luke was beyond excited, but also terrified because this was finally it. They were creating their first album as Sunset Curve and they would finally get their shot at greatness.

Mitch pulled the car up in the parking lot of the studio. “Here we are. Have you got everything, you all ready?”

Luke checked himself over. He had his guitar, he had his phone, and he had his mojo back. All distractions were gone – he felt more ready than he’d ever been.

“Yeah,” he said, shuffling over and hopping out of the car. “I’ll see you later.”

He started jogging towards the studio, but from somewhere behind him, he heard Emily call, “Luke!”

Turning around, he went back towards the car. She had rolled her window down, so Luke peeked his head through. “What’s up?”

Emily just smiled at him, teary-eyed. She reached through the open window and squeezed his shoulder.

“I am so proud of you,” she said, barely audible as her voice broke and the tears started falling. “And I’m glad you never listened to me about quitting the band. You’re going to be amazing. I can feel it.”

“Mom,” Luke groaned, but only because she had brought him close to tears too.

She let go of his shoulder. “Go on, you go. Go make your music. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Again, he turned away from the car and this time listened to his father start the engine and pull out of the car park. Luke pushed the door to the studio open, greeted the secretary as usual, and made his way down the now-familiar hallways to the soundproof studio that he and the band had rehearsed in so many times before.

He pushed the door open and found that he was the last one there (which he had expected, seeing as everyone else had arrived three hours ago, but Trevor had been very understanding about Luke’s therapy situation and was fine with him arriving late). Trevor and a member of his team were sat at a panel flashing with lights, nodding along to Reggie’s bass from where he played it in the recording booth. Alex was sat on a worn leather couch, anxiously twiddling his drumsticks between his fingers. Julie was next to him, smiling at Reggie like a proud parent, and Flynn was beside her, nearly in tears as she watched her soulmate rock it. To Luke’s surprise, sat on the floor in front of Flynn was Carrie, watching with interest.

Luke squeezed himself onto the couch between Julie and Alex. Julie melted into his side immediately, resting her head on his shoulder.

“How was it?” she whispered.

“It was good,” Luke replied honestly. Julie beamed up at him. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

Julie nodded and turned her attention back to Reggie, who was absolutely killing it in the booth, owning Long Weekend. Luke cast a glance to Alex, expecting him to be enraptured by the performance, but he seemed elsewhere.

Nudging Alex with his elbow, Luke said, “Nervous?”

“Not about this,” Alex replied. He twirled his drumstick, but his shaking fingers almost made him drop it. “It’s just that after this I’m meeting up with Willie.”

“For real?” Luke asked, eyes wide.

Alex nodded. “Yeah. He texted me a week or so ago. Said he wanted to talk. This was the soonest we were both free. I don’t know if I’m dreading it or not.”

Luke thought for a moment. He knew that both he and Reggie (if he was honest, mainly himself, less Reggie) had been quite hard on Willie the previous week. Luke had said some things he didn’t mean in the heat of the moment – which Julie had chastised him for – and the more he thought about it the more he was sure there was something going on with Willie personally. He hadn’t owed Luke an explanation and it hadn’t been his duty to go asking for one. But he did owe it to Alex, and it sounded like he was finally going to get one.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Alex,” he said eventually. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I know I’ve said some stuff about Willie recently, but he makes you happy. You make him happy. You’re soulmates. You’ll be fine.”

In his peripheral vision, Luke saw Carrie’s head tilt towards him at those words, but he stayed focused on Alex.

“You really think so?” Alex asked.

Luke punched his arm in a brotherly way. “I know so.” Alex gave a small, tight smile, but did seem a little more relaxed, so Luke changed the subject. “What’s Carrie doing here, anyway?” he whispered.

Alex shrugged. “Trevor’s her dad, and she and Flynn are going out after this anyway. It made sense for her to come along, especially since Reg and Julie wanted Flynn here.”

It made sense. Luke cast a discreet glance over to Carrie and Flynn, pondering their situation. He watched as Flynn gently twirled a lock of Carrie’s hair around her finger, and let it bounce away. With the way they were connected, he wasn’t completely certain things would ever totally work out for them, but Flynn was the most resourceful person he knew and if anyone could find a way to work their relationship out it would have been her. They would be fine.

Reggie finished his section with an exaggerated swing of the arm and some headbanging. His bandmates, his soulmates, and Julie and Carrie and stood to applaud him. He jokingly indulged, taking far too many bows and blowing them kisses.

“That’s enough, Reggie,” Trevor said into the mic that connected to the booth. “You’re all done for today, amazing work. Come on out.”

Reggie came out of the booth and Luke ran up to him. He fist-bumped him and slung an arm around his shoulders.

“You killed it in there, Reggie,” he said, pressing a sloppy kiss to the top of Reggie’s head. It was a habit he’d picked up, kissing his bandmates whenever they performed particularly well. At first he had worried it would upset Julie, but whenever she saw it she simply laughed. “What was it like?”

“Oh,” Reggie gushed, “it was incredible. It was like being in a spaceship!”

Luke looked at the room with all its wires and cables. He could almost see where Reggie was coming from.

“I’d love to play Home Is Where My Horse Is in there,” Reggie said. Then he turned to Trevor and said, “Are you sure we can’t add it to the–”

“Absolutely not,” Trevor interrupted. “It’s not a country album, Reggie. Luke, I want to do some vocal stuff with you today – seeing as Julie’s here I thought we could make a start on Perfect Harmony.”

Luke looked to Julie who smiled nervously. “I’m up for that,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes but grinned, standing up and taking his hand to lead him inside the booth.

It went so well that Luke almost couldn’t believe it. The constructive criticism Trevor gave them improved the song a thousand times, their harmonies were unmatched, and as silly as it sounded Luke thought that Julie was practically glowing in the dim lighting of the studio. She was in her element. As she hit a high note perfectly, Luke realised that this was where Julie was supposed to be.

Luke watched Trevor press the intercom button. “Julie, I’d forgotten how amazing your voice was. Until the showcase I hadn’t heard you sing since you were what? Twelve? And now look at you! I’m so proud.”

“Thanks, Trevor,” Julie said, smiling bashfully. Luke wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him, threading his fingers through the ends of her hair gently.

“Which brings me to my next proposal,” Trevor continued. “I’m just going to put this out to the room. I think Julie should join Sunset Curve as a new lead singer. Luke can still be lead, but it’ll also give him a chance to work on his guitar part, which he has unbelievable potential with. Thoughts?”

Luke held Julie’s shoulders and held her at arms’ length. She looked at shocked as he felt. All he could think was: _How didn’t I think of this before?_

Trevor was right. Julie needed to be in Sunset Curve, it just made sense. Making music was where she excelled, and seeing as she would already be featured in one of their tracks, well, why not feature her in all of them? While she had never played with Sunset Curve, Luke could already hear it in his head and all he wanted was for it to become a reality. Julie would add that little something they were missing and it would be perfection.

“I want you to join,” he said to her. She still looked dumb-founded, unable to form any words. Luke looked out of the huge window to the main room. “Alex, Reggie, what do you think?”

Reggie and Alex weren’t close enough to the mic for Luke to hear them through the soundproofed walls, but judging by their grins and the way Reggie nodded so hard he fell off the couch they were up for it too. Beaming, Luke turned back to Julie.

“What do you say?” he asked hopefully.

Julie blinked, cleared her throat, and finally seemed to get a grip on her words. “If you’re sure then… yeah, I’d love to!”

Luke hugged her so tight that she was lifted off her feet. He spun them around together as she laughed in his ear, and he couldn’t remember ever feeling so happy. Quietly, just quiet enough that it wouldn’t be received over the mic and the others wouldn’t hear, Luke said to her, “I love you, Julie Molina.”

Gently, he put her down and smiled down at her. She rested a hand against his cheek, smiling smally. “I love you too, Luke Patterson.”

“Awww,” chorused everyone on the other side of the glass. It appeared Julie hadn’t been quiet enough to keep the moment between just the two of them. But it didn’t matter to Luke – Julie Molina loved him and that was all that was important.

Trevor clapped his hands. “Right, well, I think that’s it for Perfect Harmony. If you two want to exit, we can send Alex in to do his drum part.”

It was then, as they left and let Alex in, that Luke had a thought. It was something that a few years ago he would have never been comfortable with, but after the past few weeks, the whole issue with his aunt and uncle and the family dinner, he was ready. He had mentioned to Ray that they wouldn’t let him be who he truly was – and here was his chance to show everyone.

“Hey Trevor,” he said while Alex was setting up. “Is there any way we can add one more song to our album?”

“Reggie’s not convinced you that adding Home Is Where My Horse Is is a good idea, has he?” Trevor asked exasperatedly. “Because the answer is no–”

“No,” Luke interrupted, “god, no. I don’t want that. It’s just this song I wrote a while back, like years ago. It’s called My Name Is Luke. It’s really personal to me and… I think I’m ready to share it.”

Trevor studied him, a parental smile playing about his face. Luke felt Julie slip her hand into his. “Let me hear it next week. We’ll tweak it, make sure it’s perfect, and then we can add it in. Great job today, Luke.”

He grinned, relieved. “Thanks, Trevor.”

Reggie harrumphed, crossing his arms, “So Luke gets his song put on the album, but my song is dismissed every single time.”

“I’ll sing it with you, Reggie,” Julie said as she and Luke sat back down.

Reggie smiled softly. “Thanks, Julie. I can always count on you.”

Luke found himself sat next to Flynn, who hit his arm repeatedly until he looked at her. She smiled past him to Julie, and then said, “Now that Julie’s joined, I think you should rename the band.”

“What?” Luke said indignantly. “Sunset Curve is a great name!”

Flynn nodded. “It is. But do you know what’s a better name?”

Nobody said anything.

“Julie and the Phantoms,” Flynn said dramatically.

Luke exchanged a look with Julie, then with Reggie, then with Alex, and finally with Trevor – each of them nodded at him.

He turned back to Flynn, shrugged, and said, “I think you’re right. Julie and the Phantoms it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Julie and the Phantoms rights :)  
> I kind of forgot I had to update this today, but I love this chapter so it's fine.


	8. Willie - The Explanation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willie and Alex finally talk about what's been happening.

Part 3 - I Never Let You Go

It took a lot for Willie to get as far as the front door of his house. He couldn’t help but be nervous – there was so much riding on this. If Alex’s father had been right the other night when he had said Alex didn’t want to see him, then would he really want to now? Had he only agreed to meet Willie so that he could break up face to face? Willie couldn’t have that – he _wouldn’t_ have that. He had to get this right. He had to be honest.

But it was so hard. He had forced himself to the door, but stepping outside was a whole other matter. The only reason he managed to do it was because he knew he couldn’t leave Alex waiting. Not today. He never wanted to leave Alex waiting again.

So he opened the door, but at the worst possible moment because walking towards it was his adoptive father. Caleb was dressed in a bedazzled black and purple suit complete with a top hat, checking his cuffs as he walked – clearly he had just come from one of his shows. Automatically, Willie stilled.

“Hello, William,” Caleb said, walking past him into the house. He stopped just inside the doorway meaning Willie couldn’t get out. “Where are you off to?”

There was no point lying. Caleb probably knew somehow anyway.

“I’m going to meet up with Alex,” Willie said, looking past Caleb to the driveway and the road, wishing he could be skating down it towards Alex instead of being here, having this conversation.

Caleb made a surprised noise. “I thought you had called things off with that soulmate of yours.”

Willie shook his head. “Never.”

“But aren’t you forgetting? William, you don’t know this boy really cares. You have no way of knowing at all. So why not save yourself the hassle, hm? I’m sure he’d prefer it if you just didn’t show up.”

And finally, Willie had had enough.

“No,” he said with all the force he could muster, looking Caleb square in the eye. “You’re wrong. Alex does care about me. I know it – I know it because for these past few weeks he has done nothing but worry about me. I know it because he’s willing to talk to me now, to let me explain everything I’ve done wrong and give me a second chance. I know it because we’re soulmates. I can feel the connection we have, and nothing you say is going to make it any less real. Alex cares about me and I care about him and I’m going to make sure right now that he stays with me forever.”

Without waiting for a response, Willie shoved past Caleb (who made another surprised noise, slightly winded this time), hopped on his skateboard, and headed to where he had agreed to meet Alex.

Where they had first met – right outside the Orpheum.

The Orpheum was two things for Willie: both his happiest place on Earth, and his worst. It was his happiest because he had met Alex there, and his worst because it was also where he had met Caleb. Standing outside it now, looking up at its flashing blue lights, Willie knew that after this conversation with Alex his feelings towards the Orpheum would swing to one extreme or the other and stay that way for all eternity.

He was hoping for happiness.

He waited for a while. Alex had been at his first official recording session with the band and had mentioned to Willie that it could go on longer than expected so he might have been late. Willie didn’t mind – he would have waited for centuries.

Luckily, it didn’t take centuries. After about fifteen minutes, Willie saw Alex walking against the flow of tourists, heading in his direction. He watched his soulmate walk towards him and felt as breathless and awestruck as he always felt around Alex. He didn’t know how he had ever got so lucky to have a soulmate like him. He was just praying that luck stayed on his side.

When Alex finally reached him, he stopped walking about a metre away. It was too far for Willie to touch him. He couldn’t help but think that usually they’d greet each other with a hug or a kiss or both. But now all he got was a tense silence.

“Hey,” he said, trying to break the ice. “How was the recording session?”

Alex nodded awkwardly. “It was good. Have you just been skating?” He gestured vaguely to Willie’s board in his hands.

“Nah, just boarded here. I came from my house.”

There was silence for just a moment. It didn’t matter that the bustling crowds and roar of cars made a cacophony because right then Willie couldn’t hear them. It was just him and Alex.

He sighed. “We should… we should get on with this talking.”

Alex nodded and gestured for Willie to follow him. He sat on a bench just a few paces away, perched on the back with his feet on the seat. Willie did the same, sitting as close to Alex as he dared.

“I want to explain everything,” he began unsteadily. He could feel Alex’s eyes on him, overly aware that he had his full attention. “You don’t have to forgive me, not after I’ve been so… but please just hear me out.”

Alex nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Willie repeated. And then he pointed to the Orpheum and began his story. “When I was thirteen, I found myself homeless. I won’t get into it because it’s not what this whole thing is about and I… well, I don’t really want to relive it. Not right now. But every night I would take shelter at the Orpheum. It was illegal, but I didn’t have any other option.

“One night I had been sleeping backstage. The next morning, I was woken up by someone shaking me. It was Caleb. He had a show booked there for that afternoon and needed me gone as soon as possible, said I couldn’t be there. I apologised and explained my situation and he took pity on me. He let me work at the show that night, handing out flyers and getting drinks. He paid me enough to get food that whole week.

“I thought that was it, one stroke of good luck. But I kept going back to the Orpheum, sleeping backstage, and Caleb kept booking shows and I guess eventually he got tired of finding me there. He adopted me when I was fourteen.

“It was great to begin with. I loved Caleb. He took me in, fed me, clothed me, and he really was an amazing guy. I couldn’t believe how lucky I had been. But after… I don’t know, six months? He started to change. He got… mean.

“Again, I won’t… I don’t want to talk about it. He never hurt me. But he always used to– no, he still does it. He manipulates me. He says these things and it always tears me down, makes me think less of myself. I think it started because he wanted me to be more obedient. But now he just does it to be cruel.”

He felt Alex take his hand.

“That’s… that’s what this all was. That day you first met him you left the room to take a phone call from Luke, remember? That’s when it started. He told me you don’t really care about me, that this whole soulmate thing means nothing, that I’m kidding myself about all of it. And I thought it wasn’t true, but he knows how to get under my skin and make me believe it. And it made me do stupid things like ignore you and I am so, so sorry. For everything. For all the hurt I’ve caused you. I knew what I was doing but I couldn’t stop and I never meant any of it. I just… I hope that makes sense. And maybe you can forgive me. But I get it if you can’t.”

There was silence for some indeterminable amount of time that felt both milliseconds and years long all at once. Willie was desperate for Alex to say something but equally dreaded whatever could come out of his mouth.

He heard Alex sigh, but no words followed. Instead, he felt Alex gently place his arms around him and pull him in for a soft, sweet hug. Tentatively, he hugged him back.

“I am so sorry,” Alex whispered to him, breath ghosting his ear. “That can’t have been easy to say. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me.”

Face buried in Alex’s shoulder, Willie said, “You deserved to know.”

Alex slowly pulled back but kept his hands firmly on Willie’s upper arms. “I feel awful… all those nice things I said about Caleb when really–”

“You didn’t know,” Willie said. “It’s okay, Alex. He was being nice to you so you thought he _was_ nice. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. Willie, I forgive you. There’s not much to forgive, not now that I get why you did what you did. But I need you to know that I really do care about you, no matter what Caleb says.”

Willie knew that should have been enough. A genuine, real, face-to-face admittance of his feelings – it should have fixed everything. But Caleb’s voice was still pinching the back of his mind, telling him he was unworthy.

It must have shown in his expression because Alex gently cupped Willie’s face with his hands and forced them to look eye to eye. Willie let one of his hands rest over Alex’s by his own jaw.

“Willie,” Alex said carefully, deliberately. “My boyfriend. My soulmate. I am so in love with you that I can hardly even understand it. I am never letting you go. I will never not want you in my life. I love you.”

And this time he believed it.

“I love you too,” Willie said breathlessly.

Alex leaned in and kissed him softly, just once before pulling back. He had that smile on his face, the one he wore whenever he was particularly proud of himself, a suppressed quirk of the lips that he ducked his head to hide. Willie’s heart soared and he giggled through his building tears.

“You know,” Willie said after a moment or two, breaking the comfortable silence. “I tried to do this last week. I went to your house and your dad answered the door. He said you didn’t want to see me.”

Alex snorted. “He was lying, then. I told my parents that if you happened to come over they needed to either come and get me or send you my way. I guess they’re still not entirely cool with the whole ‘gay son has a male soulmate’ thing.”

Willie gently traced his fingertips up and down Alex’s forearm, loving the goosebumps that appeared as he did so.

“Have they been any better recently?” he pried.

With a shrug, Alex said, “There was talk of inviting you over for dinner. It was actually my mom who brought it up. I mean, she looked like she was going to be sick as she said it, and my dad immediately shot it down, but I suppose it’s progress.”

“Something like that,” Willie agreed.

“It still doesn’t matter to me though,” Alex told him, catching Willie’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “I’ve got you, I love you, and that’s it. That’s all we need. Right?”

Willie didn’t reply. He was thinking.

There were very few things that Willie cared about. One was his skateboard, currently propped up against the bench they were sat on; one was the key around his neck, his only other reminder of his old life; and one was his soulmate, Alex Mercer, who was the embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and the most perfect being Willie could have imagined.

He reached to the back of his neck, unclasped the key’s chain, and then fastened it again – this time it was around Alex’s neck. The moment felt bittersweet. That key meant everything to Willie, but then again so did Alex. He wanted those two things together forever.

“That key,” Willie began, “is one of two things I have left from before I became homeless. The other is my board. Those two objects are the only things that have kept me going these past few years. But then you came along and you became something else that could keep me sane. So I want you to have that, and whenever you wear it I want you to think of me.”

Alex’s eyes were wide and shining. He huffed a laugh.

“I’ll never take it off.”

Beaming, Willie linked his arm through Alex’s, picked up his skateboard, and started walking.

“Come on,” he said briskly. “I want to get to the skatepark before it’s too dark. I’ve had a lot of extra time on my hands since I’ve not been seeing you and I’ve learnt so many new tricks, you’re going to be so impressed.”

Alex laughed, “You’re cute when you get all excited.”

“Only when I get excited?” Willie asked, pouting.

“Fine. You’re cute all the time.”

“I should hope so. You are too.”

Even in the fading afternoon light, Willie saw a delicate blush paint Alex’s cheeks.

He knew with his whole heart that what he and Alex had was unshakeable and no amount of bad parenting on either side of their relationship could change that. Their soulmate bond was tough as a diamond and just as precious too.

Willie held tighter to Alex’s arm. He would never let him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 95% Willie talking but honestly I'm not mad about it. Willex rights. They're in love, your honour.


	9. Flynn - The Second First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Carrie go on their first date for the second time.

Part 3 - I Never Let You Go

In preparation for attempt two, Carrie’s only instruction to Flynn had been to wear something warm, otherwise she had been extremely vague about the whole thing. Flynn would have thought it obvious to wear something warm, seeing as it was going on December, but Carrie’s insistence that she needed to wrap up was a little nerve-wracking. Still, she did as Carrie said because it seemed important and she was determined not to mess up this time.

It was stiflingly hot wearing three layers in the recording studio, but Flynn hardly noticed with everything going on around. Julie and the boys were on fire, Carrie was letting her play with her hair, and simply being in the room was probably the coolest thing Flynn had ever done. It was a great start to what Carrie had promised would be a great day.

Once everything was over and done with and everybody had said their goodbyes, Flynn followed Carrie out of the studio.

“That was amazing,” she gushed, “I can’t believe you grew up around all that!”

Carrie shrugged easily, pulling her bobble hat further over her ears against the chill. “You get used to it. It all seems normal to me now, I’ve been in that room more times than I can remember. The studio is like a second home.”

Coming from anyone else, it might have seemed braggy, but from Carrie it was simply a fact. She had grown up at that studio, the daughter of one of recent history’s most innovative and talented musical minds, surrounded by adoration and paparazzi, and that was simply how her life was. When she talked about the studio, it was like anyone else talking about visiting their grandparents’ house every week.

Their conversation flowed smoothly as Carrie led Flynn to this secret location. She was glad of that – the time at the studio seemed to have broken the ice, and now they were simply free to talk with the ease of their text conversations. None of it was awkward and there were no uncomfortable pauses (or god forbid any arguing) like there had been on their first attempt at a date. It was easy. It was fun.

As the sunlight began to dim, Carrie stopped walking and stood behind Flynn. A moment later, Flynn was plunged into darkness as Carrie put her gloved hands over her eyes.

“Does it really need to be this secret?” Flynn asked, unable to stop herself from smiling.

“No,” Carrie said reasonably, “but it helps build the drama. Plus, I really want to see the look on your face when we arrive. We’re not far away now.”

They walked much slower now that Flynn couldn’t see where they were going, but after a minute or so she started to hear distant chatter that got louder with every step they took. She could hear people everywhere, laughing and talking, sometimes the sound of a child yelling delightedly. Flynn had no idea what Carrie had planned, but it certainly sounded as if the people already there were enjoying themselves.

Carrie brought them to a halt, counted down from three, and then took her hands away from Flynn’s eyes. Flynn took in the scene and felt her jaw hit the floor in astonishment. Directly ahead of her was what looked to be a temporary ice rink, ringed by a flimsy-looking wooden fence. It was big, large enough for a hundred people, and there were children, adults, and even elderly people skating around on its surface. Wooden stalls had been erected all around it, decorated with glowing yellow fairy-lights and strung with wintery blue bunting. Some sold food, some sold drinks, and one was handing out ice skates. There were picnic benches and tables where resting families were sat, plus a firepit in the middle of the eating area, and the whole thing gave off a comfortable, cosy vibe.

Flynn turned to Carrie, wide-eyed, amazed. “This is what you had in mind?” Carrie nodded, hope in her eyes. “This is insane! It’s beautiful!”

Carrie gave an audible sigh of relief. “For a moment there I thought you were going to say you hated it.”

Flynn raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? How could I hate this? Look at it!”

“My dad and I come here every year,” Carrie said, smiling reminiscently. “We have done for as long as I can remember. It’s my favourite place in the whole world, while it’s here. It’s the opening night tonight, so when you said I should pick the date, this was the first thing that came to mind. You… you don’t think it’s silly, do you?”

There was some fragile worry in Carrie’s eyes, something that showed Flynn just how desperate she was to have got this right. Flynn grabbed her hand and smiled brightly.

“It’s not silly at all,” she assured her. “But I’m warning you, _I’m_ going to look silly. I’ve never skated before in my life.”

Carrie tugged her hand, leading her over to the skate vendor and joining the queue. “I was hoping you would say that. Now I can teach you.”

Flynn felt her heart flutter and suppressed a wider smile. “I hope you’re prepared to be patient with me.”

“I’ll try,” Carrie agreed. “But you know me. It won’t last long.”

Flynn knew that in the past, when neither had thought the other liked her, that would have been true. Carrie’s patience would have worn thin within a minute, but Flynn knew that wasn’t the case anymore. She had watched Carrie rehearse with Dirty Candi and knew now that Carrie was the most patient, kind, understanding, helpful person she had ever met. She went over moves until everyone was comfortable with them, and pushed her girls to the best of their abilities. Now that all their true feelings were out in the open, Flynn suspected that she might get that gentle treatment too.

They donned their skates, Carrie made sure Flynn’s were on correctly, properly fastened and the right size, and then they made their way onto the ice. Flynn slipped the moment she stepped foot on it, but Carrie caught her before she could fall flat on her face.

The whole thing was a fiasco – it took almost fifteen minutes for Flynn to move a metre, Carrie holding her hands and dragging her along, skating backwards herself. They kept laughing at themselves, at each other, at the fact that this whole thing was working. Flynn let out a snort that almost sent them both down to the ice. But it felt so good despite how terribly it was going as Flynn proved herself to be a much worse skater than Carrie was.

Eventually, after a short conversation which consisted of Carrie saying she would let go of Flynn’s hands and Flynn saying that she could not do that under any circumstances, Carrie ignored Flynn and let go. To Flynn’s surprise, she didn’t immediately fall down. In fact, she shuffled around the ice incredibly slowly for a good five minutes or so, Carrie excitedly shouting praise just ahead of her.

“See, you’re great at this,” Carrie said, glowing with excitement.

“Uh huh,” Flynn replied warily. At that very moment, her right leg shot forward and she grabbed onto the makeshift fence to stop herself from falling. “But from what you’ve told me, you must be much better. I’ll be fine here, you show me what you can do!”

Carrie didn’t need telling twice. With a bright smile, she swept away, gliding over the ice like it was all she was born to do. She was elegant, an angel without wings, practically floating on air. She wasted no time in showing off; every time she landed a jump or finished a tight spin, she shot Flynn a proud glance. All Flynn could do was watch in awe as her date impressed everyone on the rink with her indescribable talent.

Too soon, Carrie was skating back towards her, pride in her eyes. She came to a stop, leaning against the fence with Flynn.

“So,” she said, a little breathless, “what did you think?”

Flynn could hardly think of an answer. She was speechless and smitten, both things she had hardly ever been in her life, even around Carrie. It was too long a pause before Flynn managed to say, “I can’t believe I’m on a date with a literal goddess.”

Carrie laughed. Flynn couldn’t tell if her blush was from the comment or the freezing cold, but she liked to think that she was the reason.

“No, if anyone here is dating a goddess, it’s me,” Carrie returned. She took Flynn’s hand and slowly started edging them back towards the rink’s exit. “Although, the goddess does look like she’s going to catch hypothermia, so I need to warm her up. I’ll buy us drinks.”

Flynn could not have that. As they stepped off the ice, she protested, “No. You paid for entry, I’m paying for food and drinks. It’s only fair.”

Carrie rolled her eyes playfully. “Fine. If you insist. Give me your skates, I’ll take them back.”

They split up, Carrie to return their shoes and Flynn to get their drinks. That terrible first date had ended up being useful for something – Flynn knew what drink Carrie would want without having to ask. So, she ordered herself a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, but made sure that Carrie’s had no cream at all and was peppermint flavoured. She met up with Carrie at a free picnic table and slid her drink over to her.

Carrie took a sip and her whole face lit up.

“Did I do good?” Flynn asked, knowing the answer.

“You did brilliant,” Carrie replied.

There was quiet for a while as they sipped at their drinks, their feet tangled together beneath the table, listening and watching as everyone around them had fun. This was how it should have been the first time – natural, done the Carrie-and-Flynn way, not forced and fake. It was the real version of Flynn and the right version of Carrie and it felt perfect.

“Can I ask you something?” Flynn said after a while. Carrie nodded, her mouth full of hot chocolate. “If your dad wanted to start representing a band, why did he choose Julie and the Phantoms instead of Dirty Candi? Surely he wants to help you?”

Carrie looked a little sheepish, fiddling with the fingers of her gloves. “Well… I asked him not to.”

“Oh? How come?”

She shrugged lightly. “I’ve always been independent. I want my band to make it big, it’s all I’ve ever wanted for us. We’re talented and we deserve that recognition. But I want to do it on my terms. I don’t want to succeed because I’m Trevor Wilson’s daughter, and renouncing that includes renouncing his offer for help. If he represented us, it would just be an extension of his own legacy, bringing his daughter into showbiz. It wouldn’t be me and the girls getting what we deserve. Does that make sense?”

Flynn nodded. “Totally. I see where you’re coming from. And I think that’s very noble of you – this way you’ll really earn your fame.”

“Exactly!” Carrie met Flynn’s eyes and let out a small, barely there sigh, a tiny smile on her face. “I knew you’d understand. My dad didn’t. The girls didn’t get why I refused a golden ticket into stardom. But I knew you would get it.”

In a moment of sheer daring and bravery, Flynn reached across the table and held Carrie’s hand. It felt different that time – they had held hands many a time before, but this time there was nothing else happening. They weren’t walking, they weren’t talking, they weren’t ice skating. They were just two girls who cared more than they would have liked to admit, holding each other’s hands, finally having got it right.

“I think this is working better than last time,” Flynn said quietly.

“Definitely,” Carrie whispered, staring at their connected hands incredulously. “I didn’t mean what I said the other day. I don’t think it matters that our bond is one-sided. And I definitely don’t think we’re broken. You’re right – we’re meant for each other.”

Flynn simply held her hand tighter.

Hours later, after they’d had their fill of skating, drinking, laughing, talking, and holding hands, Carrie yawned and Flynn realised how late it had got. They gathered their things and began the walk home, basking in the cool night air, relishing these final moments together.

Their houses were in the same direction from the ice rink, but Carrie’s was closer, so Flynn did what any good date would do and walked her home. They arrived in front of the security gate and stood facing each other, both reluctant to leave.

Flynn broke the silence. “I had a really incredible day.”

“Me too. We can do this again, yeah? You pick the date next time. The Carrie-and-Flynn way works.”

“The Flarrie way,” Flynn said, grinning mischievously.

Carrie groaned, rolling her eyes fondly. “We’re not calling ourselves that.”

“I am,” Flynn shrugged. Carrie just laughed.

There was another pause. Flynn knew this was the part where she was supposed to say goodnight, let Carrie go home, end the date. But she just didn’t want to. She didn’t want to say goodbye. Had it been her choice, she would have stayed there in that moment forever.

But all good things came to an end – luckily for Flynn, the end was the best part of the whole night. Carrie leaned in and placed the gentlest of kisses to Flynn’s cheek, sending her a miniscule smile before punching the passcode into the security gate and heading inside with a whispered, “Goodnight.”

Everything else after that felt like a dream. Flynn didn’t remember the walk home, she didn’t remember telling her parents about all the fun she’d had, she didn’t remember getting ready for bed or tucking herself under the covers. All she could think about was Carrie, Carrie, Carrie and her wonderful parting gift.

She checked her phone just once before getting some much-needed sleep. There was one notification, a text from Carrie.

It simply read: _Goodnight xx_

Flynn sent back a reply: _Sleep tight <3_

She fell asleep to memories of the song of Carrie’s laugh and the sensation of her lips on her skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't proof-read right now because as I write this I'm being attacked by a five-month-old kitten, but I think this should all be good! Either way, Flarrie rights. Also I've been ice-skating literally once and I was like 8 so sorry if the details are wrong.


	10. Epilogue - In Every Empty Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks later.

Luke sat in the studio with Julie, perched on the edge of the grand piano with her at its keys. His tatty songbook was spread out between them, the page on its left covered in Luke’s messy scrawl and bad spelling, the page on the right half-filled with Julie’s loopy hand. They were writing together again, something they hadn’t done properly since the before the Fall Showcase when they had worked on Perfect Harmony, but now that Sunset Curve had morphed into Julie and the Phantoms, Julie and Luke had been spending a lot more time writing together.

Luke was happy. Just two weeks into recording their first album, no music even released yet, the band was already getting hype online. Flynn had been working above and beyond as a one-woman marketing team, strongly supported by her girlfriend, and across social media Julie and the Phantoms had almost fifty-thousand followers – nobody had even heard them play yet.

Their songs had taken on a new meaning with Julie added to the mix. Sunset Curve songs spoke of freedom and independence, they rang with the sound of joy and recklessness, they demanded their listeners to seize every moment like it would be their last. Julie and the Phantoms songs sounded like hope and resilience, echoed with togetherness and love, they suggested taking each day as it comes because there was still an eternity left.

Luke thought he might have liked this new message even more than their old one.

Two weeks into family therapy and things were looking up. Progress was slow – Luke had always been stubborn and though he was trying hard to make the changes suggested it could be difficult sometimes. He was reluctant to admit his mistakes, as he had always been, but they were working on it. All of them, they were working on it together.

Emily and Mitch, along with Ray, had become the band’s biggest supporters. Mitch was a middle school teacher and he had been instructing each of his classes to look out for his son and his band’s new music, hyping them all up. Emily had been spending lots of time with Julie and Alex, the band’s resident arts-and-crafts lovers, the three of them sewing costumes and creating backdrops for performances together. More than once Emily had enlisted Luke to be her model as she worked on one of his waistcoats or a blazer for Reggie or a flashy shirt for Alex – as much as Luke complained about her frequently prodding him with stray needles, he couldn’t deny how much he enjoyed the bonding time together.

The love that Luke felt all around him nowadays was what inspired the song he was working on with Julie. It drew influence from each member of the band, really – Alex overcoming his anxiety, Reggie’s undying support for his friends, Luke’s newfound happiness, and the pure strength Julie had displayed when she clawed herself out of the darkness in the wake of her mother’s death.

They all had darkness in them, they were all trying their hardest to fight it, and they were all making their way slowly to a stronger version of themselves.

The song was called Bright. It would be the first song Julie and the Phantoms wrote and performed together. Its lyrics and melodies and rhythms, down to every last note and cadence and chord were made of the love the band had for each other. The love Julie had for Luke that he had for Alex that he had for Reggie that he had for Julie.

Luke tapped at the page, a new lyric popping into his mind just as Julie finished copying down their first verse.

“ _We will fight to shine together, bright forever_.”

*

Willie turned eighteen exactly two weeks after he made up with Alex. He had almost forgotten that his birthday was coming – things had been too chaotic for him to get a grip on something which now seemed so trivial. He had only remembered what day it was when he had woken up that morning, seen the date when he turned his phone on, and realised half an hour after the fact why that date seemed so familiar.

He had texted Alex to tell him what day it was and Alex had shown up at his house two and a half hours later, out of breath, holding a cake in a transparent container. Willie led him inside, put the cake down on the kitchen counter and smiled when he saw Alex had decorated it to look like a miniature skatepark. Willie listened as for the next ten minutes Alex endearingly talked him through the entire process and how much research he’d done to get the dimensions right. Still, Alex didn’t get to finish his little speech because Willie cut him off with a thank-you kiss.

Face flushed after Willie pulled away, Alex had cleared his throat and apologised that he hadn’t brought a present other than the cake. “Is there anything you want?” he asked.

“Yes,” Willie said, reaching over the kitchen counter and grabbing his laptop, opening it up, “but it’s nothing you can get me. I want to get out of here.”

Which was how three days later, eighteen and an adult, Willie had moved himself out of Caleb’s house into a small apartment on the other side of Hollywood. He didn’t have much to take with him, but Alex (Willie’s key still hung around his neck) had insisted on helping him move. Their other friends had offered to help, but Willie had said they didn’t need to – part of him wanted to keep this between him and Alex, their own private victory, a win for their relationship as Willie was granted safety.

The plan was for Alex to move in when he turned eighteen. That day wouldn’t come until early August, but Willie made sure there was plenty of space for Alex in his apartment anyway. After all, they would both be spending a lot of time there.

Those two weeks had been filled with a lot of firsts, too. Alex’s first time on Willie’s skateboard was particularly notable, if only because it had ended in an altogether uneventful trip to A&E. Willie’s first time watching the band in the recording studio had been one of the best experiences of his life – up until that point, he had rarely heard Alex sing as he was almost always on backing vocals, but in the booth by himself Alex shone like the brightest star in the sky; if Willie was moved to tears hearing him put his heart and soul into those words then nobody said anything. Alex’s first time staying overnight with Willie the same night Willie had moved into his new apartment – all they had done in the evening was hang out like normal, and all they had done at night was hold each other and sleep, but sharing a bed felt intimate in a way Willie could never had imagined; when he woke up the morning after, Alex had been curled around him like a koala and Willie had never wanted him to let go.

He hadn’t heard from Caleb. When he had told him he was moving out, Caleb hadn’t seemed surprised. To his credit, he had wished Willie good luck – for once, Willie thought it actually might have been genuine. Their parting hadn’t had any tears or meaningful hugs or sudden changes of heart, but it had been respectful, almost amicable in a way. But Willie would always be glad to finally see the back of Caleb and never contact him again.

Willie still had those few things in life he cared about – his skateboard, his key now around another’s neck, and his soulmate. But now, with this freedom, he had so much more to live for. His apartment, his new friends, his happiness. But the most important thing was that finally he was living for _himself_.

*

Doing things the Flarrie way was working like a charm. Gone were the days where Flynn and Carrie would argue and be spiteful towards each other over some feud neither of them truly understood, and far behind them were the times that they had spent in avoidance of each other, haunted by the very thought of their relationship. Nowadays, they were entirely themselves, happy and comfortable – no more dancing around each other.

Well, figuratively speaking. In reality, Flynn’s favourite pastime had become watching Carrie dance around her. Sometimes Carrie would ask Flynn to help out with choreography for a new Dirty Candi routine; Flynn knew nothing about choreography but was happy to oblige. Carrie would dance, passion and concentration etched on her face like stone, and the way she moved was entrancing to Flynn. She could have watched Carrie dance forever, just like she would have watched her skate, and never grow bored.

It had led to a moment that could have been embarrassing but luckily was not. Carrie had finished a new routine she’d thought up for a Dirty Candi song titled Eat Your Heart Out, and she was out of breath, slightly sweaty, but positively glowing as she smiled at Flynn, a quiet confidence in her eyes. When Carrie had asked what Flynn thought, Flynn’s response had been to kiss her for the first time.

Thankfully, Carrie had kissed back.

“So you liked it, huh?” Carrie had quipped once they pulled away, giggling.

Flynn, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach, had taken Carrie’s hand and said, “I loved it.” She was pretty sure the implication of loving something else as well was clear.

Another beautiful thing to come out of doing things the Flarrie way had been that Julie and Carrie had reignited their old friendship. They had stopped talking not long after Flynn and Carrie had first met – Flynn supposed it had been wholly unfair on Julie as both of them had pressured her to take a side which had ultimately been Flynn’s, but she was glad that they could all hang out together now, happy and friendly.

By default, Flynn had become close with the other members of Dirty Candi. Spear-headed by Kayla, the four of them had given Flynn one hell of a shovel talk after she and Carrie officially labelled themselves girlfriends. Admittedly, they had frightened Flynn a little, but now she found herself talking to them semi-often and waving when they passed each other in the hallways. They were very kind and very sweet and Flynn counted herself lucky to have been blessed with such lovely new friends.

After being appointed official-unofficial head of marketing for Julie and the Phantoms, Flynn had spent countless hours building up the band’s repertoire. She had been tweeting like crazy, spamming their official Instagram account with pictures of their rehearsals with cryptic captions, and she had been drumming up hype wherever she could, telling strangers on the street to tell their friends (which had been Reggie’s idea, and to be fair, whenever she was promoting in person he was by her side too as any good soulmate would have been). The band was already successful without having to do much at all, and Flynn felt pretty confident that it had been largely down to her.

She had asked Carrie if she could do the same for Dirty Candi, and Carrie couldn’t say no to her – that same day their official Twitter had gained almost five thousand new followers.

Flynn showed Reggie all the progress one night as they were having a soulmate movie marathon. He had told her lovingly that she had made more progress than just that in the past few months. She had thought about it and realised that he was right. She had made so much progress that she was practically a different person.

“You know what?” she said to him. He had hummed in response. “You’re right. And I’m happy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually can't believe this is the last chapter. This whole thing has felt like a real journey for me, I've loved projecting onto my favourite characters and watching people genuinely enjoy it. Unless people ask for more, I imagine this will be the last thing I write as part of this series. I've really enjoyed writing it, immersing myself and these characters in this AU, and it feels like a natural place to end. Thank you all for the love you've given to Light A Fire In My Eyes, Whatever Happens, and now Silent Days, I appreciate it more than I can say. Love to all!

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while in the making, but I'm so excited to finally post the continuation of this AU! I've actually proof-read for once so I think it should be relatively error-free, but please let me know if you spot anything.  
> I've put a few tags in, but if you want me to add any trigger tags or warnings then just let me know and I'll do it, no questions asked.  
> The story is finished and will be updating daily until all ten chapters are posted.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: @gaylebcovington  
> Follows/likes from: @yonderlands


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